GEORGE, 

RANDOLPH 

CHESTER 


2  9  4 


"• 


THE  EARLY  BIRD 


ilNV.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS 


They  stopped  and  had  a  drink  of  the  cool  water 


THE  EARLY  BIRD 

A  Business  Mans  Love  Story 


BY 
GEORGE  RANDOLPH  CHESTER 

Author  of 
THE  MAKING  OF  BOBBY  BURNIT 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 

ARTHUR  WILLIAM  BROWN 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT  1910 
THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 


PRESS  OF 

BRAUNWORTH  &  CO. 

BOOKBINDERS  AND  PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  A  VERY  BUSY  YOUNG  MAN  i 

II  MR.  TURNER  PLUNGES         ....  13 

III  A  MATTER  OF  DELICACY     ....  32 

IV  GREEK  MEETS  GREEK         ....  57 
V  Miss  JOSEPHINE'S  FATHER  ....  70 

VI  MARASCHINO  CHOCOLATES   ....      86 

VII  A  DANCE  NUMBER 101 

VIII  NOT  SAM'S  FAULT  THIS  TIME      .       .        .120 

IX  A  VIOLENT  FLIRT 131 

X  A  PIANOLA  TRAINING 146 

XI  THE  WESTLAKES  INVEST     .       .       .       .160 
XII  ANOTHER  MISSED  APPOINTMENT       .       .    175 

XIII  A  RIDE  WITH  Miss  STEVENS      .       .       .185 

XIV  MATRIMONIAL  ELIGIBILITY         .       .       .    203 
XV  THE  HERO  OF  THE  HOUR     ....    210 

XVI  AN  INTERRUPTED  PROPOSAL       .       .       .222 

XVII  SHE  CALLS  HIM  SAM  ! 241 

XVIII  A  BUSINESS  PARTNER  .  261 


2126508 


THE  EARLY  BIRD 

CHAPTER  I 

WHEREIN   A   VERY   BUSY   YOUNG   MAN    STARTS 
ON  AN  ABSOLUTE  REST 

THE  youngish-looking  man  who  so  vigor- 
ously swung  off  the  train  at  Restview, 
wore  a  pair  of  intensely  dark  blue  eyes  which 
immediately  photographed  everything  within 
their  range  of  vision — flat  green  country,  shaded 
farm-houses,  encircling  wooded  hills  and  all — 
weighed  it  and  sorted  it  and  filed  it  away  for 
future  reference;  and  his  clothes  clung  on 
him  with  almost  that  enviable  fit  foimdjjjnly  in 
advertisements.  Immediately  he  threw  his  lug- 
gage into  the  tonneau  of  the  dingy  automobile 
drawn  up  at  the  side  of  the  lonely  platform,  and 
promptly  climbed  in  after  it.  Spurred  into 
purely  mechanical  action  by  this  silent  decisive- 
ness, the  driver,  a  grizzled  graduate  from  a  hay 
i 


wagon,  and  a  born  grump,  as  promptly  and  as 
silently  started  his  machine.  The  crisp  and  per- 
fect start,  however,  was  given  check  by  a  per- 
emptory voice  from  the  platform. 

"Hey,  you!"  rasped  the  voice.  "Come  back 
here!" 

As  there  were  positively  no  other  "Hey 
yous"  in  the  landscape,  the  driver  and  the  alert 
young  man  each  acknowledged  to  the  name, 
and  turned  to  see  an  elderly  gentleman,  with  a 
most  aggressive  beard  and  solid  corpulency, 
gesticulating  at  them  with  much  vigor  and  ear- 
nestness. Standing  beside  him  was  a  slender 
sort  of  girl  in  a  green  outfit,  with  very  large 
brown  eyes  and  a  smile  of  amusement  which 
was  just  a  shade  mischievous.  The  driver 
turned  upon  his  passenger  a  long  and  solemn 
accusation. 

"Hollis  Creek  Inn?"  he  asked  sternly. 

"Meadow  Brook,"  returned  the  passenger, 
not  at  all  abashed,  and  he  smiled  with  all  the 
cheeriness  imaginable. 
2 


A   VERY   BUSY   YOUNG    MAN 

"Oh,"  said  the  driver,  and  there  was  a  world 
of  disapprobation  in  his  tone,  as  well  as  a  subtle 
intonation  of  contempt.  "You  are  not  Mr. 
Stevens  of  Boston." 

"No,"  confessed  the  passenger;  "Mr.  Turner 
of  New  York.  I  judge  that  to  be  Mr.  Stevens 
on  the  platform,"  and  he  grinned. 

The  driver,  still  declining  to  see  any  humor 
whatsoever  in  the  situation,  sourly  ran  back  to 
the  platform.  Jumping  from  his  seat  he  opened 
the  door  of  the  tonneau,  and  waited  with  en- 
tirely artificial  deference  for  Mr.  Turner  of 
New  York  to  alight.  Mr.  Turner,  however, 
did  nothing  of  the  sort.  He  merely  stood  up  in 
the  tonneau  and  bowed  gravely. 

"I  seem  to  be  a  usurper,"  he  said  pleasantly 
to  Mr.  Stevens  of  Boston.  "I  was  expected  at 
Meadow  Brook,  and  they  were  to  send  a  con- 
veyance for  me.  As  this  was  the  only  convey- 
ance in  sight  I  naturally  supposed  it  to  be  mine. 
I  very  much  regret  having  discommoded  you." 

He  was  looking  straight  at  Mr.  Stevens  of 
3 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

Boston  as  he  spoke,  but,  nevertheless,  he  was 
perfectly  aware  of  the  presence  of  the  girl; 
also  of  her  eyes  and  of  her  smile  of  amuse- 
ment with  its  trace  of  mischievousness.  Be- 
coming conscious  of  his  consciousness  of  her, 
he  cast  her  deliberately  out  of  his  mind  and 
concentrated  upon  Mr.  Stevens.  The  two  men 
gazed  quite  steadily  at  each  other,  not  to  the 
point  of  impertinence  at  all,  but  nevertheless 
rather  absorbedly.  Really  it  was  only  for  a 
fleeting  moment,  but  in  that  moment  they  had 
each  penetrated  the  husk  of  the  other,  had 
cleaved  straight  down  to  the  soul,  had  esti- 
mated and  judged  for  ever  and  ever,  after  the 
ways  of  men. 

"I  passed  your  carryall  on  the  road.  It  was 
broke  down.  It'll  be  here  in  about  a  half  hour, 
I  suppose,"  insisted  the  driver,  opening  the 
door  of  the  tonneau  still  wider,  and  waving  the 
descending  pathway  with  his  right  hand. 

Both  Mr.  Stevens  of  Boston  and  Mr.  Turner 
of  New  York  were  very  glad  of  this  interrup- 
4 


A   VERY   BUSY   YOUNG    MAN 

tion,  for  it  gave  the  older  gentleman  an  object 
upon  which  to  vent  his  annoyance. 

"Is  Meadow  Brook  on  the  way  to  Hollis 
Creek?"  he  demanded  in  a  tone  full  of  reproof 
for  the  driver's  presumption. 

The  driver  reluctantly  admitted  that  it  was. 

"I  couldn't  think  of  leaving  you  in  this  dis- 
mal spot  to  wait  for  a  dubious  carryall,"  offered 
Mr.  Stevens,  but  with  frigid  politeness.  "You 
are  quite  welcome  to  ride  with  us,  if  you  will." 

"Thank  you,"  said  Mr.  Turner,  now  climb- 
ing out  of  the  machine  with  alacrity  and 
making  way  for  the  others.  "I  had  intended," 
he  laughed,  as  he  took  his  place  beside  the 
driver,  "to  secure  just  such  an  invitation,  by 
hook  or  by  crook." 

,  For  this  assurance  he  received  a  glance  from 
the  big  eyes ;  not  at  all  a  flirtatious  glance,  but 
one  of  amusement,  with  a  trace  of  mischief. 
The  remark,  however,  had  well-nigh  stopped 
all  conversation  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Stevens, 
who  suddenly  remembered  that  he  had  a  daugh- 

5 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

ter  to  protect,  and  must  discourage  forward- 
ness. His  musings  along  these  lines  were  inter- 
rupted by  an  enthusiastic  outburst  from  Mr. 
Turner. 

"By  George!"  exclaimed  the  latter  gentle- 
man, "what  a  fine  clump  of  walnut  trees;  an 
even  half-dozen,  and  every  solitary  one  of  them 
would  trim  sixteen  inches." 

"Yes,"  agreed  the  older  man  with  keenly 
awakened  interest,  "they  are  fine  specimens. 
They  would  scale  six  hundred  feet  apiece,  if 
they'd  scale  an  inch." 

"You're  in  the  lumber  business,  I  take  it," 
guessed  the  young  man  immediately,  already 
reaching  for  his  card-case.  "My  name  is 
Turner,  known  a  little  better  as  Sam  Turner, 
of  Turner  and  Turner." 

"Sam  Turner,"  repeated  the  older  man 
thoughtfully.  "The  name  seems  distinctly 
familiar  to  me,  but  I  do  not  seem,  either,  to 
remember  of  any  such  firm  in  the  trade." 

"Oh,  we're  not  in  the  lumber  line,"  replied 
6 


A  VERY   BUSY   YOUNG   MAN 

Mr.  Turner.  "Not  at  all.  .We're  in  most 
anything  that  offers  a  profit.  .We — that  is  my 
kid  brother  and  myself — have  engineered  a 
deal  or  two  in  lumber  lands,  however.  It  was 
only  last  month  that  I  turned  a  good  trade — a 
very  good  trade — on  a  tract  of  the  finest  trees 
in  Wisconsin." 

"The  dickens!"  exclaimed  the  older  gentle- 
man explosively.  "So  you're  the  Turner  who 
sold  us  our  own  lumber!  Now  I  know  you. 
I'm  Stevens,  of  the  Maine  and  Wisconsin  Lum- 
ber Company." 

Sam  Turner  laughed  aloud,  in  both  surprise 
and  glee.  Mr.  Stevens  had  now  reached  for  his 
own  card-case.  The  two  gentlemen  exchanged 
cards,  which,  with  barely  more  than  a  glance, 
they  poked  in  the  other  flaps  of  their  cases; 
then  they  took  a  new  and  more  interested  in- 
spection of  each  other.  Both  were  now  entirely 
oblivious  to  the  girl,  who,  however,  was  by  no 
means  oblivious  to  them.  She  found  them,  in 
this  new  meeting,  a  most  interesting  study. 

7 


"You  gouged  us  on  that  land,  young  man," 
resumed  Mr.  Stevens  with  a  wry  little  smile. 

"Worth  every  cent  you  paid  us  for  it,  wasn't 
it  ?"  demanded  the  other. 

"Y-e-s;  but  if  you  hadn't  stepped  into  the 
deal  at  the  last  minute,  we  could  have  secured 
it  for  five  or  six  thousand  dollars  less  money." 

"You  used  to  go  after  these  things  yourself," 
explained  Mr.  Turner  with  an  easy  laugh. 
"Now  you  send  out  people  empowered  only  to 
look  and  not  to  purchase." 

"But  what  I  don't  yet  understand,"  protested 
Mr.  Stevens,  "is  how  you  came  to  be  in  the  deal 
at  all.  When  we  sent  out  our  men  to  inspect 
the  trees  they  belonged  to  a  chap  in  Detroit. 
When  we  came  to  buy  them  they  belonged  to 
you." 

"Certainly,"  agreed  the  younger  man.  "I 
was  up  that  way  on  other  business,  when  I 
heard  about  your  man  looking  over  this  valu- 
able acreage ;  so  I  just  slipped  down  to  Detroit 
8 


A   VERY   BUSY   YOUNG   MAN 

and  hunted  up  the  owner  and  bought  it.  Then 
I  sold  it  to  you.  That's  all." 

He  smiled  frankly  and  cheerfully  upon  Mr. 
Stevens,  and  the  frown  of  discomfiture  which 
had  slightly  clouded  the  latter  gentleman's 
brow,  faded  away  under  the  guilelessness  of 
it  all ;  so  much  so  that  he  thought  to  introduce 
his  daughter. 

Miss  Josephine  having  been  brought  into 
the  conversation,  Mr.  Turner,  for  the  first 
time,  bent  his  gaze  fully  upon  her,  giving  her 
the  same  swift  scrutiny  and  appraisement  that 
he  had  the  father.  He  was  evidently  highly 
satisfied  with  what  he  saw,  for  he  kept  looking 
at  it  as  much  as  he  dared.  He  became  aware 
after  a  moment  or  so  that  Mr.  Stevens  was  say- 
ing something  to  him.  He  never  did  get  all  of 
it,  but  he  got  this  much : 

" — so  you'd  be  rather  a  good  man  to  watch, 
wherever  you  go." 

"I  hope  so,"  agreed  the  other  briskly.  "If 
9 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

I  want  anything,  I  go  prepared  to  grab  it  the 
minute  I  find  that  it  suits  me." 

"Do  you  always  get  everything  you  want?" 
asked  the  young  lady. 

"Always,"  he  answered  her  very  earnestly, 
and  looked  her  in  the  eyes  so  speculatively, 
albeit  unconsciously  so,  that  she  found  herself 
battling  with  a  tendency  to  grow  pink. 

Her  father  nodded  in  approval. 

"That's  the  way  to  get  things,"  he  said. 
"What  are  you  after  now?  More  lumber?" 

"Rest,"  declared  Mr.  Turner  with  vigorous 
emphasis.  "I've  worked  like  a  nailer  ever  since 
I  turned  out  of  high  school.  I  had  to  make  the 
living  for  the  family,  and  I  sent  my  kid  brother 
through  college.  He's  just  been  out  a  year  and 
it's  a  wonder  the  way  he  takes  hold.  But  do 
you  know  that  in  all  those  times  since  I  left 
school  I  never  took  a  lay-off  until  just  this 
minute?  It  feels  glorious  already.  It's  fine 
to  look  around  this  good  stretch  of  green 
country  and  breathe  this  fresh  air  and  look  at 
10 


A   VERY   BUSY   YOUNG    MAN 

those  hills  over  yonder,  and  to  realize  that  I 
don't  have  to  think  of  business  for  two  solid 
weeks.  Just  absolute  rest,  for  me !  I  don't  in- 
tend to  talk  one  syllable  of  shop  while  I'm  here. 
Hello!  there's  another  clump  of  walnut  trees. 
It's  a  pity  they're  scattered  so  that  it  isn't  worth 
while  to  buy  them  up." 

The  girl  laughed,  a  little  silvery  laugh  which 
made  any  memory  of  grand  opera  seem  harsh 
and  jangling.  Both  men  turned  to  her  in  sur- 
prise. Neither  of  them  could  see  any  cause  for 
mirth  in  all  the  fields  or  sky. 

"I  beg  your  pardon  for  being  so  silly,"  she 
said;  "but  I  just  thought  of  something  funny." 

"Tell  it  to  us,"  urged  Mr.  Turner.  "I've 
never  taken  the  time  I  ought  to  enjoy  funny 
things,  and  I  might  as  well  begin  right  now." 

But  she  shook  her  head,  and  in  some  way  he 
acquired  an  impression  that  she  was  amused  at 
him.  His  brows  gathered  a  trifle.  If  the 
young  lady  intended  to  make  sport  of  him  he 
would  take  her  down  a  peg  or  two.  He  would 
II 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

find  her  point  of  susceptibility  to  ridicule,  and 
hammer  upon  it  until  she  cried  enough.  That 
was  his  way  to  make  men  respectful,  and  it 
ought  to  work  with  women. 

When  they  let  him  out  at  Meadow  Brook, 
Mr.  Stevens  was  kind  enough  to  ask  him  to 
drop  over  to  Hollis  Creek.  Mr.  Turner,  with 
impulsive  alacrity,  promised  that  he  would. 


12 


CHAPTER  II 

WHEREIN  MR.  TURNER  PLUNGES  INTO  THE 
BUSINESS  OF  RESTING 

AT  Meadow  Brook  Sam  Turner  found  W. 
W.  Westlake,  of  the  Westlake  Electric 
Company,  a  big,  placid  man  with  a  mild  gray  eye 
and  an  appearance  of  well-fed  and  kindly  lazi- 
ness ;  a  man  also  who  had  the  record  of  having 
ruthlessly  smashed  more  business  competitors 
than  any  two  other  pirates  in  his  line.  West- 
lake,  unclasping  his  fat  hands  from  his  com- 
fortable rotundity,  was  glad  to  see  young  Tur- 
ner, also  glad  to  introduce  the  new  eligible  to 
his  daughter,  a  girl  of  twenty-two,  working 
might  and  main  to  reduce  a  threatened  inherit- 
ance of  embonpoint.  Mr.  Turner  was  charmed 
to  meet  Miss  Westlake,  and  even  more  pleased 
to  meet  the  gentleman  who  was  with  her, 
young  Princeman,  a  brisk  paper  manufacturer 
variously  quoted  at  from  one  to  two  million. 
13 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

He  knew  all  about  young  Princeman;  in  fact, 
had  him  upon  his  mental  list  as  a  man  pres- 
ently to  meet  and  cultivate  for  a  specific  pur- 
pose, and  already  Mr.  Turner's  busy  mind  off- 
set the  expenses  of  this  trip  with  an  equal 
credit,  much  in  the  form  of  "By  introduction  to 
H.  L.  Princeman,  Jr.  (Princeman  and  Son 
Paper  Mills,  AA  i),  whatever  it  costs."  He 
liked  young  Princeman  at  sight,  too,  and,  pro- 
ceeding directly  to  the  matter  uppermost  in  his 
thoughts,  immediately  asked  him  how  the  new 
tariff  had  affected  his  business. 

"It's  inconvenient,"  said  Princeman  with 
a  shake  of  his  head.  "Of  course,  in  the  end 
the  consumers  must  pay,  but  they  protest  so 
much  about  it  that  they  disarrange  the  steady 
course  of  our  operations." 

"It's  queer  that  the  ultimate  consumer  never 
will  be  quite  reconciled  to  his  fate,"  laughed 
Mr.  Turner;  "but  in  this  particular  case,  I 
think  I  hold  the  solution.  You'll  be  interested, 
I  know.  You  see — " 

14 


MR.    TURNER   PLUNGES 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Mr.  Turner,"  inter- 
rupted Miss  Westlake  gaily;  "I  know  you'll 
want  to  meet  all  the  young  folks,  and  you'll 
particularly  want  to  meet  my  very  dearest 
friend.  Miss  Hastings,  Mr.  Turner. " 

Mr.  Turner  had  turned  to  find  an  extraordi- 
narily thin  young  woman,  with  extraordinarily 
piercing  black  eyes,  at  Miss  Westlake's  side. 

"Indeed,  I  do  want  to  meet  all  the  young 
people,"  he  cordially  asserted,  taking  Miss 
Hastings'  claw-like  hand  in  his  own  and 
wondering  what  to  do  with  it.  He  could  not 
clasp  it  and  he  could  not  shake  it.  She  relieved 
him  of  his  dilemma,  after  a  moment,  by  twin- 
ing that  arm  about  the  plump  waist  of  her  dear- 
est friend. 

"Is  this  your  first  stay  at  Meadow  Brook?" 
she  asked  by  way  of  starting  conversation. 
She  was  very  carefully  vivacious,  was  Miss 
Hastings,  and  had  a  bird-like  habit,  meant  to 
be  very  fetching,  of  cocking  her  head  to  one 
side  as  she  spoke,  and  peering  up  to  men — oh, 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

away  up — with  the  beady  expression  of  a  pet 
canary. 

"My  very  first  visit,"  confessed  Mr.  Turner, 
not  yet  realizing  the  disgrace  it  was  to  be  "new 
people"  at  Meadow  Brook,  where  there  was 
always  an  aristocracy  of  the  grandchildren  of 
original  Meadow  Brookers.  "However,  I 
hope  it  won't  be  the  last  time,"  he  continued. 

"We  shall  all  hope  that,  I  am  certain,"  Miss 
Westlake  assured  him,  smiling  engagingly  into 
the  depths  of  his  eyes.  "It  will  be  our  fault  if 
you  don't  like  it  here ;"  and  he  might  take  such 
tentative  promise  as  he  would  from  that  and 
her  smile. 

"Thank  you,"  he  said  promptly  enough.  "I 
can  see  right  now  that  I'm  going  to  make 
Meadow  Brook  my  future  summer  home.  It's 
such  a  restful  place,  for  one  thing.  I'm  be- 
ginning to  rest  right  now,  and  to  put  business 
so  far  into  the  background  that — "  he  suddenly 
stopped  and  listened  to  a  phrase  .which  his 
trained  ear  had  caught. 
16 


MR.    TURNER    PLUNGES 

"And  that  is  the  trouble  with  the  whole 
paper  business,"  Mr.  Princeman  was  saying  to 
Mr.  Westlake.  "It  is  not  the  tariff,  but  the 
future  scarcity  of  wood-pulp  material." 

"That's  just  what  I  was  starting  to  explain 
to  you,"  said  Mr.  Turner,  wheeling  eagerly  to 
Mr.  Princeman,  entirely  unaware,  in  his  in- 
tensity of  interest,  of  his  utter  rudeness  to  both 
groups.  "My  kid  brother  and  myself  are  work- 
ing on  a  scheme  which,  if  we  are  on  the  right 
track,  ought  to  bring  about  a  revolution  in  the 
paper  business.  I  can  not  give  you  the  exact  de- 
tails of  it  now,  because  we're  waiting  for 
letters  patent  on  it,  but  the  fundamental  point 
is  this:  that  the  wood-pulp  manufacturers 
within  a  few  years  will  have  to  grow  their  raw 
material,  since  wood  is  becoming  so  scarce  and 
so  high  priced.  Well,  there  is  any  quantity  of 
swamp  land  available,  and  we  have  experi- 
mented like  mad  with  reeds  and  rushes.  We've 
found  one  particular  variety  which  grows  very 
rapidly,  has  a  strong,  woody  fiber,  and  makes 

17 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

the  finest  pulp  in  the  world.  I  turned  the  kid 
loose  with  the  company's  bank  roll  this  spring, 
and  he  secured  options  on  two  thousand  acres 
of  swamp  land,  near  to  transportation  and 
particularly  adapted  to  this  culture,  and  dirt 
cheap  because  it  is  useless  for  any  other  pur- 
pose. As  soon  as  the  patents  are  granted  on 
our  process  we're  going  to  organize  a  million 
dollar  stock  company  to  take  up  more  land  and 
handle  the  business." 

"Come  over  here  and  sit  down,"  invited 
Princeman,  somewhat  more  than  courteously. 
"Wait  a  minute  until  I  send  for  McComas. 
Here,  boy,  hunt  Mr.  McComas  and  ask  him 
to  come  out  on  the  porch." 

The  new  guest  was  reaching  for  pencil  and 
paper  as  they  gathered  their  chairs  together. 
The  two  girls  had  already  started  hesitantly  to 
efface  themselves.  Half-way  across  the  lawn 
they  looked  sadly  toward  the  porch  again.  That 
handsome  young  Mr.  Turner,  his  back  toward 
them,  was  deep  in  formulated  but  thrilling 
18 


MR.    TURNER   PLUNGES 

facts,  while  three  other  heads,  one  gray  and 
one  black  and  one  auburn,  were  bent  interest- 
edly over  the  envelope  upon  which  he  was 
figuring. 

Later  on,  as  he  was  dressing  for  dinner,  Mr. 
Turner  decided  that  he  liked  Meadow  Brook 
very  much.  It  was  set  upon  the  edge  of  a 
pleasant,  rolling  valley,  faced  and  backed  by 
some  rather  high  hills,  upon  the  sloping  side  of 
one  of  which  the  hotel  was  built,  with  broad 
verandas  looking  out  upon  exquisitely  kept 
flowers  and  shrubbery  and  upon  the  shallow 
little  brook  which  gave  the  place  its  name.  A 
little  more  water  would  have  suited  Sam  better, 
but  the  management  had  made  the  most  of  its 
opportunities,  especially  in  the  matter  of  ar- 
ranging dozens  of  pretty  little  lovers'  lanes 
leading  in  all  directions  among  the  trees  and 
along  the  sides  of  the  shimmering  stream,  and 
the  whole  prospect  was  very  good  to  look  at, 
indeed.  Taken  in  conjunction  with  the  fact 
that  one  had  no  business  whatever  on  hand, 
19 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

it  gave  one  a  sense  of  delightful  freedom  to 
look  out  on  the  green  lawn  and  the  gay  gar- 
dens, on  the  brook  and  the  tennis  and  croquet 
courts,  and  on  the  purple-hazed,  wooded  hills 
beyond;  it  was  good  to  fill  one's  lungs  with 
country  air  and  to  realize  for  a  little  while  what 
a  delightful  world  this  is;  to  see  young  people 
wandering  about  out  there  by  twos  and  by 
threes,  and  to  meet  with  so  many  other  people 
of  affairs  enjoying  leisure  similar  to  one's  own. 
Of  course,  this  wasn't  a  really  fashionable 
place,  being  supported  entirely  by  men  who  had 
made  their  own  money;  but  there  was  Prince- 
man,  for  instance,  a  fine  chap  and  very  keen; 
a  well-set-up  fellow,  black-haired  and  black- 
eyed,  and  of  a  quick,  nervous  disposition;  one 
of  precisely  the  kind  of  energy  which  Turner 
liked  to  see.  McComas,  too,  with  his  deep  red 
hair  and  his  tendency  to  freckles,  and  his  frank 
smile  with  all  the  white  teeth  behind  it,  was  a 
corking  good  fellow ;  and  alive.  McComas  was 
in  the  furniture  line,  a  maker  of  cheap  stuff 
20 


They  waylaid  him  on   the   porch 


MR.   TURNER   PLUNGES 

which  was  shipped  in  solid  trains  of  carload 
lots  from  a  factory  that  covered  several  acres. 
The  other  men  he  noticed  around  the  place 
seemed  to  be  of  about  the  same  stamp.  He  had 
never  been  anywhere  that  the  men  averaged  so 
well. 

As  he  went  down-stairs,  McComas  intro- 
duced his  wife,  already  gowned  for  the  even- 
ing. She  was  a  handsome  woman,  of  the  sort 
who  would  wear  a  different  stunning  gown 
every  night  for  two  weeks  and  then  go  on  to 
the  next  place.  Well,  she  had  a  right  to  this 
extravagance.  Besides  it  is  good  for  a  man's 
business  to  have  his  wife  dressed  prosperously. 
A  man  who  is  getting  on  in  the  world  ought  to 
have  a  handsome  wife.  If  she  is  the  right  kind, 
of  Miss  Stevens'  type,  say,  she  is  a  distinct 
asset. 

After  dinner,  Miss  Westlake  and  Miss  Has- 
tings waylaid  him  on  the  porch. 

"I  suppose,  of  course,  you  are  going  to  take 
part  in  the  bowling  tournament  to-night,"  sug- 

21 


gested  Miss  Westlake  with  the  engaging  direct- 
ness allowable  to  family  friendship. 

"I  suppose  so,  although  I  didn't  know  there 
was  one.  Where  is  it  to  be  held  ?" 

"Oh,  just  down  the  other  side  of  the  brook, 
beyond  the  croquet  grounds.  We  have  a  tour- 
nament every  week,  and  a  prize  cup  for  the 
best  score  in  the  season.  It's  lots  of  fun.  Do 
you  bowl?" 

"Not  very  much,"  Mr.  Turner  confessed; 
"but  if  you'll  just  keep  me  posted  on  all  these 
various  forms  of  recreation,  you  may  count 
on  my  taking  a  prominent  share  in  them." 

"All  right,"  agreed  Miss  Hastings,  very  vi- 
vaciously taking  the  conversation  away  from 
Miss  Westlake.  "We'll  constitute  ourselves 
a  committee  of  two  to  lay  out  a  program  for 
you." 

"Fine,"    he    responded,    bending    on    the 

fragile  Miss  Hastings  a  smile  so  pleasant  that 

it  made  her  instantly  determine  to  find  out 

something  about  his  family  and  commercial 

22 


MR.    TURNER    PLUNGES 

standing.  "What  time  do  we  start  on  our  mad 
bowling  career?" 

"They'll  be  drifting  over  in  about  a  half- 
hour,"  Miss  Westlake  told  him,  with  a  specu- 
lative sidelong  glance  at  her  dearest  girl  friend. 
"Everybody  starts  out  for  a  stroll  in  some  other 
direction,  as  if  bowling  was  the  least  of  their 
thoughts,  but  they  all  wind  up  at  the  alleys. 
I'll  show  you."  A  slight  young  man  of  the 
white-trousered  faction,  as  distinguished  from 
the  dinner-coat  crowd,  passed  them  just  then. 
"Oh,  Billy,"  called  Miss  Westlake,  and  intro- 
duced the  slight  young  man,  who  proved  to  be 
her  brother,  to  Mr.  Turner,  at  the  same  time 
wreathing  her  arm  about  the  waist  of  her  dear 
companion.  "Come  on,  Vivian ;  let's  go  get  our 
wraps,"  and  the  girls,  leaving  "Billy"  and  Mr. 
Turner  together,  scurried  away. 

The  two  young  men  looked  at  each  other 
dubiously,  though  each  had  an  earnest  desire 
to  please.  They  groped  for  human  understand- 
ing, and  suddenly  that  clammy,  discouraged 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

feeling  spread  its  muffling  wall  between  them. 
Billy  was  the  first  to  recover  in  part. 

"Charming  weather,  isn't  it?"  he  observed 
with  a  polite  smile. 

Mr.  Turner  opined  that  it  was,  the  while 
delving  into  Mr.  tWestlake's  mental  workshop 
and  finding  it  completely,  devoid  of  tools,  pat- 
terns or  lumber. 

"The  girls  are  just  going  to  take  me  over  to 
bowl,"  Mr.  Turner  ventured  desperately  after 
a  while.  "Do  you  bowl  very  much  ?" 

"Oh,  I  usually  fill  in,"  stated  Mr.  Westlake; 
"but  really,  I'm  a  very  poor  hand  at  it.  I  seem 
to  be  a  poor  hand  at  most  everything,"  and  he 
laughed  with  engaging  candor,  as  if  somehow 
this  were  creditable. 

The  conversation  thereupon  lagged  for  a 
moment  or  two,  while  Mr.  Turner  blankly 
asked  himself:  "What  is  thunder  does  a  man 
talk  about  when  he  has  nothing  to  say  and  no- 
body to  say  it  to?"  Presently  he  solved  the 
problem. 

24 


MR.    TURNER    PLUNGES 

"It  must  be  beautiful  out  here  in  the  au- 
tumn," he  observed. 

"Yes,  it  is  indeed,"  returned  Mr.  Westlake 
with  alacrity.  "The  leaves  turn  all  sorts  of 
colors." 

Once  more  conversation  lagged,  while  Billy 
feebly  wondered  how  any  person  could  pos- 
sibly be  so  dull  as  this  chap.  He  made  another 
attempt. 

"Beastly  place,  though,  when  it  rains,"  he 
observed. 

"Yes,  I  should  imagine  so,"  agreed  Mr. 
Turner.  Great  Scott!  The  voice  of  McComas 
saved  him  from  utter  imbecility. 

"You'll  excuse  Mr.  Turner  a  moment,  won't 
you,  Billy?"  begged  McComas  pleasantly;  "I 
want  to  introduce  him  to  a  couple  of  friends  of 
mine." 

Billy  Westlake  bowed  his  forgiveness  of  Mr. 

McComas  with  fully  as  much  relief  as  Sam 

Turner  had  felt.    Over  in  the  same  corner  of 

the  porch  where  he  had  sat  in  the  afternoon 

25 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

with  McComas  and  Princeman  and  the  elder 
Westlake,  Sam  found  awaiting  them  Mr.  Cuth- 
bert,  of  the  American  Papier-Mache  Company, 
an  almost  viciously  ugly  man  with  a  twisted 
nose  and  a  crooked  mouth,  who  controlled  prac- 
tically all  the  worth-while  papier-mache  busi- 
ness of  the  United  States,  and  Mr.  Blackrock, 
an  elderly  man  with  a  young  toupee  and  par- 
ticularly gaunt  cheek-bones,  who  was  a  cor- 
poration lawyer  of  considerable  note.  Both 
gentlemen  greeted  Mr.  Turner  as  one  toward 
whom  they  were  already  highly  predisposed, 
and  Mr.  Princeman  and  Mr.  Westlake  also 
shook  hands  most  cordially,  as  if  Sam  had  been 
gone  for  a  day  or  two.  Mr.  McComas  placed 
a  chair  for  him. 

"We  just  happened  to  mention  your  marsh 
pulp  idea,  and  Mr.  Cuthbert  and  Mr.  Black- 
rock  were  at  once  very  highly  interested,"  ob- 
served McComas  as  they  sat  dawn.  "Mr. 
Blackrock  suggests  that  he  don't  see  why  you 
need  wait  for  the  issuance  of  the  letters  patent, 
26 


MR.    TURNER    PLUNGES 

at  least  to  discuss  the  preliminary  steps  in  the 
forming  of  your  company." 

"Why,  no,  Mr.  Turner,"  said  Mr.  Blackrock, 
suavely  and  smoothly;  "it  is  not  a  company 
anyhow,  as  I  take  it,  which  will  depend  so 
much  upon  letters  patent  as  upon  extensive 
exploitation." 

"Yes,  that's  true  enough,"  agreed  Sam  with 
a  smile.  "The  letters  patent,  however,  should 
give  my  kid  brother  and  myself,  without  much 
capital,  controlling  interest  in  the  stock." 

Upon  this  frank  but  natural  statement  the 
others  laughed  quite  pleasantly. 

"That  seems  a  plausible  enough  reason," 
admitted  Mr.  Westlake,  folding  his  fat  hands 
across  his  equator  and  leaning  back  in  his  chair 
with  a  placidity  which  seemed  far  removed 
from  any  thought  of  gain.  "How  did  you  pro- 
pose to  organize  your  company?" 

"Well,"  said  Sam,  crossing  one  leg  comfort- 
ably over  the  other,  "I  expect  to  issue  a  half 
million  participating  preferred  stock,  at  five 
27 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

per  cent,  and  a  half-million  common,  one  share 
of  common  as  bonus  with  each  two  shares  of 
preferred ;  the  voting  power,  of  course,  vested 
in  the  common." 

A  silence  followed  that,  and  then  Mr.  Cuth- 
bert,  with  a  diagonal  yawing  of  his  mouth 
which  seemed  to  give  his  words  a  special  dry- 
ness,  observed: 

"And  I  presume  you  intend  to  take  up  the 
balance  of  the  common  stock?" 

"Just  about,"  returned  Mr.  Turner  cheer- 
fully, addressing  Cuthbert  directly.  The  pa- 
pier-mache king  was  another  man  whom  he  had 
inscribed,  some  time  since,  upon  his  mental 
list.  "My  kid  brother  and  myself  will  take  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  of  the  common 
stock  for  our  patents  and  processes,  and  for 
our  services  as  promoters  and  organizers,  and 
will  purchase  enough  of  the  preferred  to  give 
us  voting  power;  say  five  thousand  dollars 
worth." 

Mr.  Cuthbert  shoolc  his  head. 
28 


MR.    TURNER    PLUNGES 

"Very  stringent  terms,"  he  observed.  "I 
doubt  if  you  will  interest  your  capital  on  that 
basis." 

"All  right,"  said  Sam,  clasping  his  knee  in 
his  hands  and  rocking  gently.  "If  we  can't 
organize  on  that  basis  we  won't  organize  at  all. 
We're  in  no  hurry.  My  kid  brother's  handling 
it  just  now,  anyhow.  I'm  on  a  vacation,  the 
first  I  ever  had,  and  not  keen  upon  business,  by 
any  means.  In  the  meantime,  let  me  show  you 
some  figures." 

Five  minutes  later,  Billy  Westlake  and  his 
sister  and  Miss  Hastings  drew  up  to  the  edge 
of  the  group.  Young  Westlake  stood  diffi- 
dently for  two  or  three  minutes  beside  Mr. 
Turner's  chair,  and  then  he  put  his  hand  on 
that  summer  idler's  shoulder. 

"Oh,  good  evening,  Mr. — Mr. — Mr. — "  Sam 
stammered  while  he  tried  to  find  the  name. 

"Westlake,"  interposed  Billy's  father;  and 
then,  a  trifle  impatiently,  "What  do  you  want, 
Billy?" 

29 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

"Mr.  Turner  was  to  go  over  with  us  to  the 
bowling  shed,  dad." 

"That's  so,"  admitted  Mr.  Turner,  glancing 
over  to  the  porch  rail  where  the  girls  stood  ex- 
pectantly in  their  fluffy  white  dresses,  and  nod- 
ding pleasantly  at  them,  but  not  yet  rising.  He 
was  in  the  midst  of  an  important  statement. 

"Just  you  run  on  with  the  girls,  Billy," 
ordered  Mr.  Westlake.  "Mr.  Turner  will  be 
over  in  a  few  minutes." 

The  others  of  the  circle  bent  their  eyes 
gravely  upon  Billy  and  the  girls  as  they  turned 
away,  and  waited  for  Mr.  Turner  to  resume. 

At  a  quarter  past  ten,  as  Mr.  Turner  and 
Mr.  Princeman  walked  slowly  along  the  porch 
to  turn  into  the  parlors  for  a  few  minutes  of 
music,  of  which  Sam  was  very  fond,  a  crowd 
of  young  people  came  trooping  up  the  steps. 
Among  them  were  Billy  Westlake  and  his  sis- 
ter, another  young  gentleman  and  Miss  Has- 
tings. 

"By   George,   that   bowling   tournament!" 

30 


MR.    TURNER   PLUNGES 

exclaimed  Mr.  Turner.     "I  forgot  all  about 
it." 

He  was  about  to  make  his  apologies,  but 
Miss  Westlake  and  Miss  Hastings  passed  right 
on,  with  stern,  set  countenances  and  their 
heads  in  air.  Apparently  they  did  not  see  Mr. 
Turner  at  all.  He  gazed  after  them  in  con- 
sternation ;  suddenly  there  popped  into  his  mind 
the  vision  of  a  slender  girl  in  green,  with  mis- 
chievous brown  eyes — and  he  felt  strangely 
comforted.  Before  retiring  he  wired  his 
brother  to  send  some  samples  of  the  marsh 
pulp,  and  the  paper  made  from  it. 


CHAPTER  III 

MR.  TURNER  APPLIES  BUSINESS  PROMPTNESS  TO 
A  MATTER  OF  DELICACY 

MORNING  at  Meadow  Brook'  was  even 
more  delightful  than  evening.  The 
time  Mr.  Turner  had  chosen  for  his  outing 
was  early  September,  and  already  there  was  a 
crispness  in  the  air  which  was  quite  invigor- 
ating. Clad  in  flannels  and  with  a  brand  new 
tennis  racket  under  his  arm,  he  went  into  the 
reading-room  immediately  after  breakfast, 
bought  a  paper  of  the  night  before  and  glanced 
hastily  over  the  news  of  the  day,  paying  more 
particular  attention  to  the  market  page.  Prices 
of  things  had  a  peculiar  fascination  for  him. 
He  noticed  that  cereals  had  gone  down,  that 
there  was  another  flurry  in  copper  stock,  and 
that  hardwood  had  gone  up,  and  ranging  down 
32 


the  list  his  eye  caught  a  quotation  for  walnut. 
It  had  made  a  sharp  advance  of  ten  dollars  a 
thousand  feet. 

Out  of  the  window,  as  he  looked  up,  he  saw 
Miss  Westlake  and  Miss  Hastings  crossing  the 
lawn,  and  he  suddenly  realized  that  he  was 
here  to  wear  himself  out  with  rest,  so  he  hur- 
ried in  the  direction  the  girls  had  taken;  but 
when  he  arrived  at  the  tennis  court  he  found  a 
set  already  in  progress.  Both  Miss  Westlake 
and  Miss  Hastings  barely  nodded  at  Mr.  Tur- 
ner, and  went  right  on  displaying  grace  and 
dexterity  to  a  quite  unusual  degree.  Decidedly 
Mr.  Turner  was  being  "cut,"  and  he  wondered 
why.  Presently  he  strode  down  to  the  road 
and  looked  up  over  the  hill  in  the  direction  he 
knew  Hollis  Creek  Inn  to  be.  He  was  still 
pondering  the  probable  distance  when  Mr. 
Westlake  and  Billy  and  young  Princeman  came 
up  the  brook  path. 

"Just  the  chap  I  wanted  to  see,  Sam,"  said 
Mr.  Westlake  heartily.  "I'm  trying  to  get  up 

33 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

a  pin-hook  fishing  contest,  for  three-inch  sun- 
fish." 

"Happy  thought,"  returned  Sam,  laughing. 
"Count  me  in." 

"It's  the  governor's  own  idea,  too,"  said 
Billy  with  vast  enthusiasm.  "Bully  sport,  it 
ought  to  be.  Only  trouble  is,  Princeman  has 
some  mysterious  errand  or  other,  and  can't  join 
us." 

"No;  the  fact  is,  the  Stevenses  were  due  at 
Hollis  Creek  yesterday,"  confessed  Mr.  Prince- 
man in  cold  return  to  the  prying  Billy,  "and  I 
think  I'll  stroll  over  and  see  if  they've  arrived."^ 

Sam  Turner  surveyed  Princeman  with  a  new 
interest.  Danger  lurked  in  Princeman's  black 
eyes,  fascination  dwelt  in  his  black  hair,  at- 
tractiveness was  in  every  line  of  his  athletic 
figure.  It  was  upon  the  tip  of  Sam's  tongue  to 
say  that  he  would  join  Princeman  in  his  walk, 
but  he  repressed  that  instinct  immediately. 

"Quite  a  long  ways  over  there  by  the  road, 
isn't  it  ?"  he  questioned. 
34 


A   MATTER   OF   DELICACY 

"Yes,"  admitted  Princeman  unsuspectingly, 
"it  winds  a  good  bit ;  but  there  is  a  path  across 
the  hills  which  is  not  only  shorter  but  far  more 
pleasant." 

Sam  turned  to  Mr.  Westlake. 

"It  would  be  a  shame  not  to  let  Princeman  in 
on  that  pin-hook  match,"  he  suggested.  "Why 
not  put  it  off  until  to-morrow  morning.  I  have 
an  idea  that  I  can  beat  Princeman  at  the  game." 

There  was  more  or  less  of  sudden  challenge 
in  his  tone,  and  Princeman,  keen  as  Sam  him- 
self, took  it  in  that  way. 

"Fine!"  he  invited.  "Any  time  you  want 
to  enter  into  a  contest  with  me  you  just  men- 
tion it." 

"I'll  let  you  know  in  some  way  or  other, 
even  if  I  don't  make  any  direct  announcement," 
laughed  Sam,  and  Princeman  walked  away 
with  Mr.  Westlake,  very  much  to  Billy's  con- 
sternation. He  was  alone  with  this  dull  Turner 
person  once  more.  What  should  they  talk 
about?  Sam  solved  that  problem  for  him  at 
35 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

once.  "What's  the  swiftest  conveyance  these 
people  keep?"  he  asked  briskly. 

"Oh,  you  can  get  most  anything  you  like," 
said  Billy.  "Saddle-horses  and  carriages  of 
all  sorts ;  and  last  year  they  put  in  a  couple  of 
automobiles,  though  scarcely  any  one  uses 
them."  There  was  a  certain  amount  of  care- 
less contempt  in  Billy's  tone  as  he  mentioned 
the  hired  autos.  Evidently  they  were  not  con- 
sidered to  be  as  good  form  as  other  modes  of 
conveyance. 

"Where's  the  garage?"  asked  Sam. 

"Right  around  back  of  the  hotel.  Just  fol- 
low that  drive." 

"Thanks,"  said  the  other  crisply.  "I'll  see 
you  this  evening,"  and  he  stalked  away  leaving 
Billy  gasping  for  breath  at  the  suddenness  of 
Sam.  After  all,  though,  he  was  glad  to  be  rid 
of  Mr.  Turner.  He  knew  the  Stevenses  him- 
self, and  it  had  slowly  dawned  on  him  that 
by  having  his  own  horse  saddled  he  could  beat 
Princeman  over  there. 

36 


A   MATTER   OF   DELICACY 

It  took  Sam  just  about  one  minute  to  nego- 
tiate for  an  automobile,  a  neat  little  affair, 
shiny  and  new,  and  before  they  were  half-way 
to  Hollis  Creek,  his  innate  democracy  led  him 
into  conversation  with  the  driver,  an  alert 
young  man  of  the  near-by  clay. 

"Not  very  good  soil  in  this  neighborhood," 
Sam  observed.  "I  notice  there  is  a  heavy  out- 
cropping of  stone.  What  are  the  principal 
crops  ?" 

"Summer  resorters,"  replied  the  driver 
briefly. 

"And  do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  all  these 
farm-houses  call  themselves  summer  resorts?" 
inquired  Sam. 

"No,  only  those  that  have  running  water. 
The  others  just  keep  boarders." 

"I  see,"  said  Sam,  laughing. 

A  moment  later  they  passed  over  a  beauti- 
fully clear  stream  which  ran  down  a  narrow 
pocket  valley  between  two  high  hills,  swept 
under  a  rickety  wooden  culvert,  and  raced  on 

37 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

across  a  marshy  meadow,  sparkling  invitingly 
here  and  there  in  the  sunlight. 

"Here's  running  water  without  a  summer 
resort,"  observed  the  passenger,  still  smiling. 

"It's  too  much  shut  in,"  replied  the  chauffeur 
as  one  who  had  voiced  a  final  and  insurmount- 
able objection.  All  the  "summer  resorts"  in 
this  neighborhood  were  of  one  pattern,  and  no 
one  would  so  much  as  dream  of  varying  from 
the  first  successful  model. 

Sam  scarcely  heard.  He  was  looking  back 
toward  the  trough  of  those  two  picturesquely 
wooded  hills,  and  for  the  rest  of  the  drive  he 
asked  but  few  questions. 

At  Hollis  Creek,  where  he  found  a  much 
more  imposing  hotel  than  the  one  at  Meadow 
Brook,  he  discovered  Miss  Stevens,  clad  in 
simple  white  from  canvas  shoes  to  knotted 
cravat,  in  a  summer-house  on  the  lawn,  chatting 
gaily  with  a  young  man  who  was  almost  fat. 
Sam  had  seen  other  girls  since  he  had  entered 
the  grounds,  but  he  could  not  make  out  their 
38 


A    MATTER   OF   DELICACY 

features;  this  one  he  had  recognized  from 
afar,  and  as  they  approached  the  summer-house 
he  opened  the  door  of  the  machine  and  jumped 
out  before  it  had  come  properly  to  a  stop. 

"Good  morning,  Miss  Stevens,"  he  said  with 
a  cheerful  self-confidence  which  was  beautiful 
to  behold.  "I  have  come  over  to  take  you  a 
little  spin,  if  you'll  go." 

Miss  Stevens  gazed  at  the  caller  quizzically, 
and  laughed  outright. 

"This  is  so  sudden,"  she  murmured. 

The  caller  himself  grinned. 

"Does  seem  so,  if  you  stop  to  think  of  it,"  he 
admitted.  "Rather  like  dropping  out  of  the 
clouds.  But  the  auto  is  here,  and  I  can  testify 
that  it's  a  smooth-running  machine.  AVill  you 
go?" 

She  turned  that  same  quizzical  smile  upon 
the  young  man  who  was  almost  fat,  and  intro- 
duced him,  curly  hair  and  all,  to  Mr.  Turner 
as  Mr.  Hollis,  who,  it  afterward  transpired, 
was  the  heir  to  Hollis  Creek  Inn. 
39 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

"I  had  just  promised  to  play  tennis  with  Mr. 
Hollis,"  Miss  Stevens  stated  after  the  intro- 
duction had  been  properly  acknowledged,  "but 
I  know  he  won't  mind  putting  it  off  this  time," 
and  she  handed  him  her  tennis  bat. 

"Certainly  not,"  said  young  Hollis  with 
forcedly  smiling  politeness. 

"Thank  you,  Mr.  Hollis,"  said  Sam 
promptly.  "Just  jump  right  in,  Miss  Stevens." 

"How  long  shall  we  be  gone?"  she  asked  as 
she  settled  herself  in  the  tonneau. 

"Oh,  whatever  you  say.  A  couple  of  hours, 
I  presume." 

"All  right,  then,"  she  said  to  young  Hollis; 
"we'll  have  our  game  in  the  afternoon." 

"With  pleasure,"  replied  the  other  gra- 
ciously, but  he  did  not  look  it. 

"Where  shall  we  go?"  asked  Sam  as  the 
driver  looked  back  inquiringly.  "You  know  the 
country  about  here,  I  suppose." 

"I  ought  to,"  she  laughed.  "Father's  been 
ending  the  summer  here  ever  since  I  was  a  little 
40 


A    MATTER    OF    DELICACY 

girl.  You  might  take  us  around  Bald  Hill,"  she 
suggested  to  the  chauffeur.  "It  is  a  very  pretty 
drive,"  she  explained,  turning  to  Sam  as  the 
machine  wheeled,  and  at  the  same  time  waving 
her  hand  gaily  to  the  disconsolate  Hollis,  who 
was  "hard  hit"  with  a  different  girl  every  sea- 
son. "It's  just  about  a  two-hour  trip.  What  a 
fine  morning  to  be  out!"  and  she  settled  back 
comfortably  as  the  machine  gathered  speed.  "I 
do  love  a  machine,  but  father  is  rather  back- 
ward about  them.  He  will  consent  to  ride  in 
them  under  necessity,  but  he  won't  buy  one. 
Every  time  he  sees  a  handsome  pair  of  horses, 
however,  he  has  to  have  them." 

"I  admire  a  good  horse  myself,"  returned 
Sam. 

"Do  you  ride  ?"  she  asked  him. 

"Oh,  I  have  suffered  a  few  times  on  horse- 
back," he  confessed ;  "but  you  ought  to  see  my 
kid  brother  ride.  He  looks  as  if  he  were  part 
of  the  horse.  He's  a  handsome  brat." 

"Except  for  calling  him  names,  which  is  a 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

purely  masculine  way  of  showing  affection,  you 
speak  of  him  almost  as  if  you  were  his  mother," 
she  observed. 

"Well,  I  am,  almost,"  replied  Sam,  studying 
the  matter  gravely.  "I  have  been  his  mother, 
and  his  father,  and  his  brother,  too,  for  a  great 
many  years ;  and  I  will  say  that  he's  a  credit  to 
his  family." 

"Meaning  just  you  ?"  she  ventured. 

"Yes,  we're  all  we  have;  just  yet,  at  least." 
This  quite  soberly. 

"He  must  talk  of  getting  married,"  she 
guessed,  with  a  quick  intuition  that  when  this 
happened  it  would  be  a  blow  to  Sam. 

"Oh,  no,"  he  immediately  corrected  her. 
"He  isn't  quite  old  enough  to  think  of  it  seri- 
ously as  yet.  I  expect  to  be  married  long  before 
he  is." 

Miss  Stevens  felt  a  rigid  aloofness  creeping 
over  her,  and,  having  a  very  wholesome  sense 
of  humor,  smiled  as  she  recognized  the  feeling 
in  herself. 

42 


A   MATTER   OF   DELICACY 

"I  should  think  you'd  spend  your  vacation 
where  the  girl  is,"  she  observed.  ''Men  usually 
do,  don't  they?" 

He  laughed  gaily. 

"I  surely  would  if  I  knew  the  girl,"  he  as- 
serted. 

"That's  a  refreshing  suggestion,"  she  said, 
echoing  his  laugh,  though  from  a  different  im- 
pulse. "I  presume,  then,  that  you  entertain 
thoughts  of  matrimony  merely  because  you 
think  you  are  quite  old  enough." 

"No,  it  isn't  just  that,"  he  returned,  still 
thoughtfully.  "Somehow  or  other  I  feel  that 
way  about  it ;  that's  all.  I  have  never  had  time 
to  think  of  it  before,  but  this  past  year  I  have 
had  a  sort  of  sense  of  lonesomeness ;  and  I 
guess  that  must  be  it." 

In  spite  of  herself  Miss  Josephine  giggled 
and  repressed  it,  and  giggled  again  and  re- 
pressed it,  and  giggled  again,  and  then  she  let 
herself  go  and  laughed  as  heartily  as  she 
pleased.  She  had  heard  men  say  before,  but  al- 

43 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

ways  with  more  or  less  of  a  languishing  air, 
inevitably  ridiculous  in  a  man,  that  they 
thought  it  about  time  they  were  getting  mar- 
ried; but  she  could  not  remember  anything  to 
compare  with  Sam  Turner's  naivete  in  the 
statement. 

He  paid  no  attention  to  the  laughter,  for  he 
had  suddenly  leaned  forward  to  the  chauffeur. 

"There  is  another  clump  of  walnut  trees,"  he 
said,  eagerly  pointing  them  out.  "Are  there 
many  of  them  in  this  locality?" 

"A  good  many  scattered  here  and  there,"  re- 
plied the  boy;  "but  old  man  Gifford  has  a 
twenty-acre  grove  down  in  the  bottoms  that's 
mostly  all  walnut  trees,  and  I  heard  him  say 
just  the  other  day  that  walnut  lumber's  got  so 
high  he  had  a  notion  to  clear  his  land." 

"Where  do  you  suppose  we  could  find  old 
man  Gifford  ?"  inquired  Mr.  Turner. 

"Oh,  about  six  miles  off  to  the  right,  at  the 
next  turning." 

"Suppose  we  whizz  right  down  there,"  said 
44 


A   MATTER   OF    DELICACY 

Sam  promptly,  and  he  turned  to  Miss  Stevens 
with  enthusiasm  shining  in  his  eyes.  "It  does 
seem  as  if  everything  happens  lucky  for  me," 
he  observed.  "I  haven't  any  particular  liking 
for  the  lumber  business,  but  fate  keeps  hand- 
ing lumber  to  me  all  the  time;  just  fairly  forc- 
ing it  on  me." 

"Do  you  think  fate  is  as  much  responsible 
for  that  as  yourself?"  she  questioned,  smiling 
as  they  passed  at  a  good  clip  the  turn  which 
was  to  have  taken  them  over  the  pretty  Bald 
Hill  drive.  Sam  had  not  even  thought  to  apolo- 
gize for  the  abrupt  change  in  their  program, 
because  she  could  certainly  see  the  opportunity 
which  had  offered  itself,  and  how  imperative  it 
was  to  embrace  it.  The  thing  needed  no  ex- 
planation. 

"I  don't  know,"  he  replied  to  her  query,  after 
pausing  to  consider  it  a  moment.  "I  certainly 
don't  go  out  of  my  road  to  hunt  up  these 
things." 

"No-o-o-o,"  she  admitted.  "But  fate  hasn't 
45 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

thrust  this  particular  opportunity  upon  me,  al- 
though I'm  right  with  you  at  the  time.  It  never 
would  have  occurred  to  me  to  ask  about  those 
walnut  trees." 

"It  would  have  occurred  to  your  father,"  he 
retorted  quickly. 

"Yes,  it  might  have  occurred  to  father,  but 
I  think  that  under  the  circumstances  he  would 
have  waited  until  to-morrow  to  see  about  it." 

"I  suppose  I  might  be  that  way  when  I  arrive 
at  his  age,"  Sam  commented  philosophically, 
"but  just  now  I  can't  afford  it.  His  'seeing 
about  it  to-morrow'  cost  him  between  five  and 
six  thousand  dollars  the  last  time  I  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  him." 

She  laughed.  She  was  enjoying  Sam's  com- 
pany very  much.  Even  if  a  bit  startling,  he  was 
at  least  refreshing  after  the  type  of  young  men 
she  was  in  the  habit  of  meeting. 

"He  was  talking  about  that  last  night,"  she 
said.   "I  think  father  rather  stands  in  both  ad- 
miration and  awe  of  you." 
46 


A   MATTER   OF   DELICACY 

"I'm  glad  to  hear  that,"  he  returned  quite 
seriously.  "It's  a  good  attitude  in  which  to 
have  the  man  with  whom  you  expect  to  do 
business." 

"I  think  I  shall  have  to  tell  him  that,"  she 
observed,  highly  amused.  "He  will  enjoy  it, 
and  it  may  put  him  on  his  guard." 

"I  don't  mind,"  he  concluded  after  due  re- 
flection. "It  won't  hurt  a  particle.  If  anything, 
if  he  likes  me  so  far,  that  will  only  increase  it. 
I  like  your  father.  In  fact  I  like  his  whole 
family." 

"Thank  you,"  she  said  demurely,  wondering 
if  there  was  no  end  to  his  bluntness,  and  won- 
dering, too,  whether  it  were  not  about  time  that 
she  should  find  it  wearisome.  On  closer  an- 
alysis, however,  she  decided  that  the  time  was 
not  yet  come.  "But  you  have  not  met  all  of 
them,"  she  reminded  him.  "There  are  mother 
and  a  younger  sister  and  an  older  brother." 

"Don't  matter  if  there  were  six  more,  I  like 
all  of  them,"  Sam  promptly  informed  her. 

47 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

Then,  "Stop  a  minute,"  he  suddenly  directed 
the  chauffeur. 

That  functionary  abruptly  brought  his  ma- 
chine to  a  halt  just  a  little  way  past  a  tree  glow- 
ing with  bright  green  leaves  and  red  berries. 

"I  don't  know  what  sort  of  a  tree  that  is," 
said  Sam  with  boyish  enthusiasm ;  "but  see  how 
pretty  it  is.  Except  for  the  shape  of  the  leaves 
the  effect  is  as  beautiful  as  holly.  Wouldn't  you 
like  a  branch  or  two,  Miss  Stevens  ?" 

"I  certainly  should,"  she  heartily  agreed.  "I 
don't  know  how  you  discovered  that  I  have  a 
mad  passion  for  decorative  weeds  and  things." 

"Have  you  ?"  he  inquired  eagerly.  "So  have 
I.  If  I  had  time  I'd  be  rather  ashamed  of  it." 

He  had  scrambled  out  of  the  car  and  now 
ran  back  to  the  tree,  where,  perching  himself 
upon  the  second  top  rail  of  the  fence  he  drew 
down  a  limb,  and  with  his  knife  began  to  snip 
off  branches  here  and  there.  The  girl  noticed 
that  he  selected  the  branches  with  discrimina- 
tion, turning  each  one  over  so  that  he  could 
48 


A    MATTER   OF   DELICACY 

look  at  the  broad  side  of  it  before  clipping, 
rejecting  many  and  studying  each  one  after 
he  had  taken  it  in  his  hand.  He  was  some  time 
in  finding  the  last  one,  a  long  straggling  branch 
which  had  most  of  its  leaves  and  berries  at  the 
tip,  and  she  noticed  that  as  he  came  back  to  the 
auto  he  was  arranging  them  deftly  and  with  a 
critical  eye.  When  he  handed  them  in  to  her 
they  formed  a  carefully  arranged  and  graceful 
composition.  It  was  a  new  and  an  unexpected 
side  of  him,  and  it  softened  considerably  the 
amused  regard  in  which  she  had  been  holding 
him. 

"They  are  beautifully  arranged,"  she  com- 
mented, as  he  stopped  for  a  moment  to  brush 
the  dust  from  his  shoes  in  the  tall  grass  by  the 
roadside. 

"Do  you  think  so?"  he  delightedly  inquired. 
"You  ought  to  see  my  kid  brother  make  up 
bouquets  of  goldenrod  and  such  things.  He 
seems  to  have  a  natural  artistic  gift." 

She  bent  on  his  averted  head  a  wondering 

49 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

glance,  and  she  reflected  that  often  this  "hus- 
tler" must  be  misunderstood. 

"You  have  aroused  in  me  quite  a  curiosity  to 
meet  this  paragon  of  a  brother,"  she  remarked. 
"He  must  be  well-nigh  perfection." 

"He  is,"  replied  Sam  instantly,  turning  to 
her  very  earnest  eyes.  "He  hasn't  a  flaw  in  him 
any  place." 

She  smiled  musingly  as  she  surveyed  the 
group  of  branches  she  held  in  her  hand. 

"It  is  a  pity  these  leaves  will  wither  in  so 
short  a  time,"  she  said. 

"Yes,"  he  admitted;  "but  even  if  we  have  to 
throw  them  away  before  we  get  back  to  the 
hotel,  their  beauty  will  give  us  pleasure  for  an 
hour;  and  the  tree  won't  miss  them.  See,  it 
seems  as  perfect  as  ever." 

"It  wouldn't  if  everybody  took  the  same  lib- 
erties with  it  that  you  did,"  she  remarked, 
glancing  back  at  the  tree. 

Sam  had  climbed  in  the  car  and  had  slammed 
the  door  shut,  but  any  reply  he  might  have 
50 


A   MATTER   OF   DELICACY 

made  was  prevented  by  a  hail  from  the  woods 
above  them  at  the  other  side  of  the  road,  and 
a  man  came  scrambling  down  from  the  hillside 
path. 

"Why,  it's  Mr.  Princeman!"  exclaimed  the 
girl  in  pleased  surprise.  "Think  of  finding  you 
wandering  about,  all  alone  in  the  woods  here." 

"I  wasn't  wandering  about,"  he  protested  as 
he  came  up  to  the  machine  and  shook  hands 
with  Miss  Josephine.  "I  was  headed  directly 
for  Hollis  Creek  Inn.  Your  brother  wrote  me 
that  you  were  expected  to  arrive  there  yester- 
day evening,  and  I  was  dropping  over  to  call  on 
you  right  away  this  morning.  I  see,  however, 
that  I  was  not  quite  prompt  enough.  You're 
selfish,  Mr.  Turner.  You  knew  I  was  going 
over  to  Hollis  Creek,  and  you  might  have  in- 
vited me  to  ride  in  your  machine." 

"You  might  have  invited  me  to  walk  with 
you,"  retorted  Sam. 

"But  you  knew  that  I  was  coming  and  I 
didn't  know  that  you  even  knew — •"  he  paused 
51 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

abruptly  and  fixed  a  contemplative  eye  upon 
young  Mr.  Turner,  who  was  now  surveying  the 
scenery  and  Mr.  Princeman  in  calm  enjoyment. 

The  arrival  at  this  moment  of  a  cloud  of 
dust  out  of  which  evolved  a  lone  horseman,  and 
that  horseman  Billy  Westlake,  added  a  new 
angle  to  the  situation,  and  for  one  fleeting  mo- 
ment the  three  men  eyed  one  another  in  mutual 
sheepish  guilt. 

"Rather  good  sport,  I  call  it,  Miss  Stevens," 
declared  Billy,  aware  of  a  sudden  increase  in 
his  estimation  of  Mr.  Turner,  and  letting  the 
cat  completely  out  of  the  bag.  "Each  of  us 
was  trying  to  steal  a  march  on  the  rest,  but 
Mr.  Turner  used  the  most  businesslike  method, 
and  of  course  he  won  the  race." 

"I'm  flattered,  I'm  sure,"  said  Miss  Josephine 
demurely.  "I  really  feel  that  I  ought  to  go 
right  back  to  the  house  and  be  the  belle  of  the 
ball;  but  it's  impossible  for  an  hour  or  so  in 
this  case,"  and  she  turned  to  her  escort  with  the 
smile  of  mischief  which  she  had  worn  the  first 
52 


A   MATTER   OF   DELICACY 

time  he  saw  her.  "You  see,  we  are  out  on  a  lit- 
tle business  trip,  Mr.  Turner  and  myself. 
We're  going  to  buy  a  walnut  grove." 

Mr.  Turner  turned  upon  her  a  glance  which 
was  half  a  frown. 

"I  promised  to  get  you  back  in  two  hours, 
and  I'll  do  it,"  he  stated,  "but  we  mustn't  linger 
much  by  the  wayside." 

"With  which  hint  we  shall  wend  our  Hollis 
Creek-ward  way,"  laughed  Princeman,  ex- 
changing a  glance  of  amusement  with  Miss 
Stevens.  "I  think  we  shall  visit  with  your 
father  until  you  come  back." 

"Please  do,"  she  urged.  "He  will  be  as  glad 
to  see  you  both  as  I  am,"  with  which  informa- 
tion she  settled  herself  back  in  her  seat  with  a 
little  air  of  the  interview  being  over,  and  the 
chauffeur,  with  proper  intuition,  started  the 
machine,  while  Mr.  Princeman  and  Billy  looked 
after  them  glumly. 

"Queer  chap,  isn't  he?"  commented  Billy. 

"Queer?  Well,  hardly  that,"  returned 
53 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

Princeman  thoughtfully.  "There's  one  thing 
certain;  he's  enterprising  and  vigorous  enough 
to  command  respect,  in  business  or — anything 
else." 

At  about  that  very  moment  Mr.  Turner  was 
impressing  upon  his  companion  a  very  im- 
portant bit  of  ethics. 

"You  shouldn't  have  violated  my  confi- 
dence," he  told  her  severely. 

"How  was  that  ?"  she  asked  in  surprise,  and 
with  a  trifle  of  indignation  as  well. 

"You  told  them  that  we  were  going  to  buy 
a  walnut  grove.  You  ought  never  to  let  slip 
anything  you  happen  to  know  of  any  man's 
business  plans." 

"Oh!"  she  said  blankly. 

Having  voiced  his  straightforward  objection, 
and  delivered  his  simple  but  direct  lesson,  Mr. 
Turner  turned  as  decisively  to  other  matters. 

"Son,"  he  asked,  leaning  over  toward  the 
chauffeur,  "are  there  any  speed  limit  laws  on 
these  roads  ?" 

'54 


A   MATTER   OF   DELICACY 

"None  that  I  know  of,"  replied  the  boy. 

"Then  cut  her  loose.  Do  you  object  to  fast 
driving,  Miss  Stevens?" 

"Not  at  all,"  she  told  him,  either  much 
chastened  by  the  late  rebuke  or  much  amused 
by  it.  She  could  scarcely  tell  which,  as  yet.  "I 
don't  particularly  long  for  a  broken  neck,  but 
I  never  can  feel  that  my  time  has  come." 

"It  hasn't,"  returned  Sam.  "Let's  see  your 
palm,"  and  taking  her  hand  he  held  it  up  be- 
fore him.  It  was  a  small  hand  that  he  saw, 
and  most  gracefully  formed,  but  a  strong  one, 
too,  and  Sam  Turner  had  an  extremely  quick 
and  critical  eye  for  both  strength  and  beauty. 
"You  are  going  to  live  to  be  a  gray-haired 
grandmother,"  he  announced  after  an  inspec- 
tion of  her  pink  palm,  "and  live  happily  all  your 
life." 

It  was  noteworthy  that  no  matter  what  his 

impulse  may  have  been  he  did  not  hold  her 

hand   overly   long,   nor   subject   it   to   undue 

warmth  of  pressure,  but  restored  it  gently  to 

55 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

her  lap.  She  was  remarking  upon  this  herself 
as  she  took  that  same  hand  and  passed  its  taper- 
ing fingers  deftly  among  the  twigs  of  the  tree- 
bouquet,  arranging  a  leaf  here  and  a  berry 
there. 


CHAPTER  IV 

A  LITTLE  VACATION  PASTIME  IN  WHICH  GREEK 
MEETS  GREEK 

OLD  man  Gifford  was  not  at  home  in  his 
squat,  low-roofed  farm-house,  but  a 
woman  shaped  like  a  pyramid  of  diminishing 
pumpkins  directed  them  down  through  the 
grove  to  the  corn  patch.  It  was  necessary  to  lift 
strenuously  upon  the  sagging  end  of  a  squeaky 
old  gate,  and  scrape  it  across  gulleys,  to  get  the 
automobile  into  the  narrow,  deeply-rutted  road, 
and  with  a  mind  fearful  of  tires  the  chauffeur 
wheeled  down  through  the  grove  quite  slowly, 
a  slowness  for  which  Sam  was  duly  grateful, 
since  it  allowed  him  to  take  a  careful  appraise- 
ment of  the  walnut  trees,  interspersed  with  oc- 
casional oaks,  which  bordered  both  sides  of 
their  path.  They  were  tall,  thick,  straight- 
trunked  trees,  from  amongst  which  the  under- 
57 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

brush  had  been  carefully  cut  away.  It  was  a 
joy  to  his  now  vandal  soul,  this  grove,  and  al- 
ready he  could  see  those  majestic  trunks,  after 
having  been  sawed  with  as  little  wasteful  chop- 
ping as  possible,  toppling  in  endless  billowy  fur- 
rows. 

Old  man  Gifford  came  inquiringly  up  be- 
tween the  long  rows  of  corn  to  the  far  edge  of 
the  grove.  He  was  bent  and  weazened,  and 
more  gnarled  than  any  of  his  trees,  and  even 
his  ringers  seemed  to  have  the  knotty,  angular 
effect  of  .twigs.  A  fringe  of  gray  beard  sur- 
rounded his  clean-shaven  face,  which  was  criss- 
crossed with  innumerable  little  furrows  that  the 
wind  and  rain  had  worn  in  it;  but  a  pair  of 
shrewd  old  eyes  twinkled  from  under  his  bushy 
eyebrows. 

"Morning,  'Ennery,"  he  said,  addressing  the 
chauffeur  with  a  squeaky  little  voice  in  which, 
though  after  forty  years  of  residence  in  Amer- 
ica, there  was  still  a  strong  trace  of  British  ac- 
cent; and  then  his  calculating  gaze  rested 
58 


GREEK   MEETS   GREEK 

calmly  in  turns  upon  the  other  occupants  of  the 
machine. 

"Good  morning,  Mr.  Gifford,"  returned  the 
chauffeur.  "Fine  day,  isn't  it?" 

"Good  corn-ripenin'  weather,"  agreed  the  old 
man,  squinting  at  the  sky  from  force  of  habit, 
and  then,  being  satisfied  that  there  was  no 
threatening  cloud  in  all  the  visible  blue  expanse, 
he  returned  to  a  calm  consideration  of  the 
strangers,  waiting  patiently  for  Mr.  Turner  to 
introduce  himself. 

"I  understand,  Mr.  Gifford,  that  you  are 
open  to  an  offer  for  your  walnut  trees,"  began 
Mr.  Turner,  looking  at  his  watch. 

"Well,  I  might  be,"  admitted  the  old  man 
cautiously. 

"I  see,"  returned  Sam;  "that  is,  you  might 
be  interested  if  the  price  were  right.  Let's  get 
right  down  to  brass  tacks.  How  much  do  you 
want  ?" 

"Standin'orcut?" 

"Well,  say  standing?" 

59 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

"How  much  do  you  offer?" 

Miss  Stevens'  gaze  roved  from  the  one  to 
the  other  and  found  enjoyment  in  the  fact  that 
here  Greek  had  met  Greek. 

Sam's  reply  was  prompt  and  to  the  point.  He 
named  a  price. 

"No,"  said  the  old  man  instantly.  "I  been 
a-holdin'  out  for  five  dollars  a  thousand  more 
than  that." 

Things  were  progressing.  A  basis  for  hag- 
gling had  been  established.  Sam  Turner,  how- 
ever, had  the  advantage.  He  knew  the  sharp 
advance  in  walnut  announced  that  morning. 
Old  man  Gifford  would  not  be  aware  of  it  un- 
til the  rural  free  delivery  brought  his  evening 
paper,  of  the  night  before,  some  time  that  after- 
noon. In  view  of  the  recent  advance,  even  at 
Mr.  Gifford's  price  there  was  a  handsome  profit 
in  the  transaction. 

"The  reason  you've  had  to  hold  out  for  your 
rate  until  right  now  was  that  nobody  would  pay 
it,"  said  Sam  confidently.  "Now  I'm  here  to 
60 


GREEK   MEETS    GREEK 

talk  spot  cash.  I'll  give  you,  say,  a  thousand 
dollars  down,  and  the  balance  immediately 
upon  measurement  as  the  logs  are  loaded  upon 
the  cars." 

The  old  man  nodded  in  approval. 

"The  terms  is  all  right,"  he  said. 

"How  much  will  you  take  F.  O.  B.  Rest- 
view?" 

"Well,  cuttin'  and  trimmin'  and  haulin'  ain't 
much  in  my  line,"  returned  the  old  man,  again 
cautious;  "but  after  all,  I  reckon  that  there'd 
be  less  damage  to  my  property  if  I  looked  after 
it  myself.  Of  course,  I'd  have  to  have  a  profit 
for  handlin'  it.  I'd  feel  like  holdin'  out  for — 
for — "  and  after  some  hesitation  he  again 
named  a  figure. 

"You've  made  that  same  proposition  to  oth- 
ers," charged  Sam  shrewdly,  "and  you  couldn't 
get  the  price."  Upon  the  heels  of  this  he  made 
his  own  offer. 

The  old  man  shook  his  head  and  turned  as  if 
to  start  back  to  the  corn  field. 
61 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

"No,  I  can  get  better  than  that,"  he  declared, 
shaking  his  head. 

"Come  back  here  and  let's  talk  turkey,"  pro- 
tested Sam  compellingly.  "You  name  the  very 
lowest  price  you'll  take,  delivered  on  board  the 
cars  at  Restview." 

The  old  man  reached  down,  pulled  up  a  blade 
of  grass,  chewed  it  carefully,  spit  it  out,  and 
named  his  very,  very  lowest  price;  then  he 
added :  "What's  the  most  you'll  give  ?" 

Miss  Stevens  leaned  forward  intently. 

Sam  very  promptly  named  a  figure  five  dol- 
lars lower. 

"I'll  split  the  difference  with  you,"  offered 
the  old  man. 

"It's  a  bargain !"  said  Sam,  and  reaching  into 
the  inside  pocket  of  his  tennis  coat,  he  brought 
out  some  queer  furniture  for  that  sort  of  gar- 
ment— a  small  fountain  pen  and  an  extremely 
small  card-case,  from  the  latter  of  which  he 
drew  four  folded  blank  checks. 
62 


GREEK   MEETS   GREEK 

He  reached  over  and  borrowed  the  chauf- 
feur's enameled  cap,  dusted  it  carefully  with 
his  handkerchief,  laid  a  check  upon  it  and  held 
his  fountain  pen  poised.  ".What  are  your  ini- 
tials, please,  Mr.  Gifford?" 

"Wait  a  minute,"  said  the  old  man  hastily. 
"Don't  make  out  that  check  just  yet.  I  don't 
do  any  business  or  sign  any  contracts  till  I  talk 
with  Hepseba." 

"All  right.  Climb  right  in  with  Henry 
there,"  directed  Sam,  seizing  upon  the  chauf- 
feur's name.  "We'll  drive  straight  up  to  see 
her." 

"I'll  walk,"  firmly  declared  Mr.  Gifford.  "I 
never  have  rode  in  one  of  them  things,  and  I'm 
too  old  to  begin." 

"Very  well,"  said  Sam  cheerfully,  jumping 
out  of  the  machine  with  great  promptness.  "I'll 
walk  with  you.  Back  to  the  house,  Henry,"  and 
he  started  anxiously  to  trudge  up  the  road  with 
Mr.  Gifford,  leaving  Henry  to  manceuver  pain- 
fully in  the  narrow  space.  After  a  few  steps, 
63 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

however,  a  sudden  thought  made  him  turn 
back.  "Maybe  you'd  rather  walk  up,  too,"  he 
suggested  to  Miss  Stevens. 

"No,  I  think  I'll  ride,"  she  said  coldly. 

He  opened  the  door  in  extreme  haste. 

"Do  come  on  and  walk,"  he  pleaded.  "Don't 
hold  it  against  me  because  I  just  don't  seem 
to  be  able  to  think  of  more  than  one  thing  at 
a  time;  but  I  was  so  wrapped  up  in  this  deal 
that —  Really,"  and  he  sank  his  voice  confi- 
dentially, "I  have  a  tremendous  bargain  here, 
and  I'll  be  nervous  about  it  until  I  have  it 
clenched.  I'll  tell  you  why  as  we  go  home." 

He  held  out  his  hand  as  a  matter  of  course 
to  help  her  down.  The  white  of  his  eyes  was 
remarkably  clear,  the  irises  were  remarkably 
blue,  the  pupils  remarkably  deep.  Suddenly  her 
face  cleared  and  she  laughed. 

"It  was  silly  of  me  to  be  snippy,  wasn't  it?" 

she  confessed,  as  she  took  his  hand  and  stepped 

lightly  to  the  ground.   It  had  just  recurred  to 

her  that  when  he  knew  Princeman  was  walking 

64 


GREEK   MEETS    GREEK 

over  to  see  her  he  had  said  nothing,  but  had 
engaged  an  automobile. 

Old  man  Gifford  had  nothing  much  to  say 
when  they  caught  up  with  him.  Mr.  Turner 
tried  him  with  remarks  about  the  weather,  and 
received  full  information,  but  when  he  at- 
tempted to  discuss  the  details  of  the  walnut 
purchase,  he  received  but  mere  grunts  in  reply, 
except  finally  this : 

"There's  no  use,  young  man.  I  won't  talk 
about  them  trees  till  I  get  Hepseba's  opinion." 

At  the  house  Hepseba  waddled  out  on  the 
little  stoop  in  response  to  old  man  Gifford's 
call,  and  stood  regarding  the  strangers  stonily 
through  her  narrow  little  slits  of  eyes. 

"This  gentleman,  Hepseba,"  said  old  man 
Gifford,  "wants  to  buy  my  walnut  trees.  What 
do  you  think  of  him?" 

In  response  to  that  leading  question,  Hepseba 
studied  Sam  Turner  from  head  to  foot  with  the 
sort  of  scrutiny  under  which  one  slightly  red- 
dens. 

65 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

"I  like  him/'  finally  announced  Hepseba,  in 
a  surprisingly  liquid  and  feminine  voice.  "I 
like  both  of  them,"  an  unexpected  turn  which 
brought  a  flush  to  the  face  of  Miss  Stevens. 

"All  right,  young  man,"  said  old  man  Gif- 
ford  briskly.  "Now,  then,  you  come  in  the 
front  room  and  write  your  contract,  and  I'll 
take  your  check." 

All  alacrity  and  open  cordiality  now,  he  led 
the  way  into  the  queer  old  front  room,  musty 
with  the  solemnity  of  many  dim  Sundays. 

"Just  set  down  here  in  this  easy  chair, 
Mrs. —  What  did  you  say  your  name  is?" 
Mr.  Giffbrd  inquired,  turning  to  Sam. 

"Turner ;  Sam  J.  Turner,"  returned  that  gen- 
tleman, grinning.  "But  this  is  Miss  Stevens." 

"No  offense  meant  or  taken,  I  hope,"  hastily 
said  the  old  man  by  way  of  apology;  "but  I  do 
say  that  Mr.  Turner  would  be  lucky  if  he  had 
such  a  pretty  wife." 

"You  have  both  good  taste  and  good  judg- 
ment, Mr.  Gifford,"  commented  Sam  as  airily 
66 


GREEK   MEETS    GREEK 

as  he  could;  then  he  looked  across  at  Miss 
Stevens  and  laughed  aloud,  so  openly  and  so 
ingenuously  that,  so  far  from  the  laughter  giv- 
ing offense,  it  seemed,  strangely  enough,  to  put 
Miss  Josephine  at  her  ease,  though  she  still 
blushed  furiously.  There  was  nothing  in  that 
laugh  nor  in  his  look  but  frank,  boyish  enjoy- 
ment of  the  joke. 

There  ensued  a  crisp  and  decisive  conversa- 
tion between  Mr.  Gifford  and  Mr.  Turner  about 
the  details  of  their  contract,  and  'Ennery  was 
presently  called  in  to  append  to  it  his  painfully 
precise  signature  in  vertical  writing,  Miss  Stev- 
ens adding  hers  in  a  pretty  round  hand.  Then 
Hepseba,  to  bind  the  bargain,  brought  in  hot 
apple  pie  fresh  from  the  oven,  and  they  became 
quite  a  little  family  party  indeed,  and  very 
friendly,  'Ennery  sitting  in  the  parlor  with 
them  and  eating  his  pie  with  a  fork. 

"I  Icnow  what  Hepseba  thinks,"  said  old 
man  Gifford,  as  he  held  the  door  of  the  car 
open  for  them.  "She  thinks  you're  a  mighty 
67 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

keen  young  man  that  has  to  be  watched  in  the 
beginning  of  a  bargain,  because  you'll  give  as 
little  as  you  can;  but  that  after  the  bargain's 
made  you  don't  need  any  more  watching.  But 
Lord  love  you,  I  have  to  be  watched  in  a  bar- 
gain myself.  I  take  everything  I  can." 

As  he  finished  saying  this  he  was  closing  the 
door  of  the  car,  but  Hepseba  called  to  them  to 
wait,  and  came  puffing  out  of  the  house  with 
a  little  bundle  wrapped  in  a  newspaper. 

"I  brought  this  out  for  your  wife,"  she  said 
to  Mr.  Turner,  and  handed  it  to  Miss  Joseph- 
ine. "It's  some  geranium  slips.  Everybody  says 
I  got  the  very  finest  geraniums  in  the  bottoms 
here." 

"Goodness,  Hepseba,"  exclaimed  old  man 
Gifford,  highly  delighted ;  "that  ain't  his  wife. 
That's  Miss  Stevens.  I  made  the  same  mis- 
take," and  he  hawhawed  in  keen  enjoyment. 

Hepseba  was  so  evidently  overcome  with 
mortification,  however,  and  her  huge  round 
face  turned  so  painfully  red,  that  Miss  Stevens 
68 


GREEK    MEETS    GREEK 

lost  entirely  any  embarrassment  she  might 
otherwise  have  felt. 

"It  doesn't  matter  at  all,  I  assure  you,  Mrs. 
Gifford,"  she  said  with  charming  eagerness  to 
set  Hepseba  at  ease.  "I  am  very  fond  of 
geraniums,  and  I  shall  plant  these  slips  and  take 
good  care  of  them.  I  thank  you  very,  very 
much  for  them." 

As  the  machine  rolled  away  Hepseba  turned 
to  old  man  Gifford : 

"I  like  both  of  them!"  she  stated  most  de- 
cisively. 


69 


CHAPTER  V 

MISS  JOSEPHINE'S  FATHER  AGREES  THAT  SAM 
TURNER  IS  ALL  BUSINESS 

1  A  ND  now,"  announced  Sam  in  calm  tri- 
/""\  umph  as  they  neared  Hollis  Creek  Inn, 
"I'll  finish  up  this  deal  right  away.  There  is  no 
use  in  my  holding  for  a  further  rise  at  this 
time,  and  I'll  just  sell  these  trees  to  your  fa- 
ther." 

"To  father!"  she  gasped,  and  then,  as  it 
dawned  upon  her  that  she  had  been  out  all 
morning  to  help  Sam  Turner  buy  up  trees  to 
sell  to  her  own  father  at  a  profit,  she  burst 
forth  into  shrieks  of  laughter. 

"What's  the  joke?"  Sam  asked,  regarding 
her  in  amazement,  and  then,  more  or  less 
dimly,  he  perceived.  "Still,"  he  said,  relapsing 
into  serious  consideration  of  the  affair,  "your 
father  will  be  in  luck  to  buy  those  trees  at  all, 
70 


even  at  the  ten  dollars  a  thousand  profit  he'll 
have  to  pay  me.  There  is  not  less  than  a  hun- 
dred thousand  feet  of  walnut  in  that  grove. 

"Mercy!"  she  said.  "Why,  that  will  make 
you  a  thousand  dollars  for  this  morning's 
drive;  and  the  opportunity  was  entirely  acci- 
dental, one  which  would  not  have  occurred  if 
you  hadn't  come  over  to  see  me  in  this  machine. 
I  think  I  ought  to  have  a  commission." 

"You  ought  to  be  fined,"  Sam  retorted. 
"You  had  me  scared  stiff  at  one  time." 

"How  was  that  ?"  she  demanded. 

".Why,  of  course  you  didn't  think,  but  when 
you  told  the  boys  that  I  was  going  out  to  buy 
a  walnut  grove,  they  were  right  on  their  way 
to  see  your  father.  It  would  have  been  very 
natural  for  one  of  them  to  mention  our  errand. 
Your  father  might  have  immediately  inquired 
where  there  was  walnut  to  be  found,  and  have 
telephoned  to  old  man  Gifford  before  I  could 
reach  him." 

"You  needn't  have  worried!"  stated  Miss 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

Josephine  in  a  tone  so  indignant  that  Sam 
turned  to  her  in  astonishment.  "My  father 
would  not  have  done  anything  so  despicable  as 
that,  I  am  quite  sure !" 

"He  wouldn't!"  exclaimed  Sam.  "I'll  bet  he 
would.  Why,  how  do  you  suppose  your  father 
became  rich  in  the  lumber  trade  if  it  wasn't 
through  snapping  up  bargains  every  time  he 
found  one  ?" 

"I  have  no  doubt  that  my  father  has  been 
and  is  a  very  alert  business  man,"  retorted  Miss 
Josephine  most  icily;  "but  after  he  knew  that 
you  had  started  out  actually  to  purchase  a  tract 
of  lumber,  he  would  certainly  consider  that 
you  had  established  a  prior  claim  upon  the 
property." 

"Your  father's  name  is  Theophilus  Stevens, 
isn't  it?" 

"Yes." 

"Humph !"  said  Sam,  but  he  did  not  explain 
that  exclamation,  nor  was  he  asked  to  explain. 
Miss  Stevens  had  been  deeply  wounded  by  the 
72 


MISS   JOSEPHINE'S    FATHER 

assault  upon  her  father's  business  morality,  and 
she  desired  to  hear  no  further  elaboration  of 
the  insult. 

She  was  glad  that  they  were  drawing  up  now 
to  the  porch,  glad  this  ride,  with  its  many  dis- 
agreeable features,  was  over,  although  she  care- 
fully gathered  up  her  bright-berried  branches, 
which  were  not  half  so  much  withered  as  she 
had  expected  them  to  be,  and  held  her  geranium 
slips  cautiously  as  she  alighted. 

Her  father  came  out  to  the  edge  of  the  porch 
to  meet  them.  He  paid  no  attention  to  his 
daughter. 

"Well,  Sam  Turner,"  said  Mr.  Stevens, 
stroking  his  aggressive  beard,  "I  hear  you  got 
it,  confound  you !  What  do  you  want  for  your 
lumber  contract  ?" 

"Just  the  advance  of  this  morning's  quota- 
tions," replied  Sam.  "Princeman  tell  you  I  was 
after  it?" 

"No,  not  at  first,"  said  Stevens.  "I  received 
a  telegram  about  that  grove  just  an  hour  ago, 
73 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

from  my  partner.  Princeman  was  with  me 
when  the  telegram  came,  and  he  told  me  then 
that  you  had  just  gone  out  on  the  trail.  I  did 
my  best  to  get  Gifford  by  'phone  before  you 
could  reach  him." 

"Father!"  exclaimed  Miss  Josephine. 

"What's  the  matter,  Jo  ?" 

"You  say  you  actually  tried  to— to  get  in 
ahead  of  Mr.  Turner  in  buying  this  lumber, 
knowing  that  he  was  going  down  there  pur- 
posely for  it?" 

"Why,  certainly,"  admitted  her  father. 

"But  did  you  know  that  I  was  with  Mr. 
Turner?" 

"Why,  certainly!" 

"Father !"  was  all  she  could  gasp,  and  with- 
out deigning  to  say  good-by  to  Mr.  Turner,  or 
to  thank  him  for  the  ride  or  the  bouquet  of 
branches  or  even  the  geranium  slips  which  she 
had  received  under  false  pretenses,  she  hurried 
away  to  her  room,  oppressed  with  Heaven  only 
74 


MISS   JOSEPHINE'S    FATHER 

knows  what  mortification,  and  also  with  what 
wonder  at  the  ways  of  men ! 

However,  Princeman  and  Billy  Westlake 
and  young  Hollis  with  the  curly  hair  were  im- 
patiently waiting  for  Miss  Josephine  at  the  ten- 
nis court,  as  they  informed  her  in  a  jointly 
signed  note  sent  up  to  her  by  a  boy,  and  hastily 
removing  the  dust  of  the  road  she  ran  down  to 
join  them.  As  she  went  across  the  lawn,  tennis 
bat  in  hand,  Sam  Turner,  discussing  lumber 
with  Mr.  Stevens,  saw  her  and  stopped  talking 
abruptly  to  admire  the  trim,  graceful  figure. 

"Does  your  daughter  play  tennis  much  ?"  he 
inquired. 

"A  great  deal,"  returned  Mr.  Stevens,  ex- 
panding with  pride.  "Jo's  a  very  expert  player. 
She's  better  at  it  than  any  of  these  girls,  and 
she  really  doesn't  care  to  play  except  with  ex- 
perts. Princeman,  Hollis  and  Billy  Westlake 
are  easily  the  champions  here." 

"I  see,"  said  Sam  thoughtfully. 
75 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

"I  suppose  you're  a  crack  player  yourself," 
his  host  resumed,  glancing  at  Sam's  bat. 

"Me?  No,  worse  than  a  dub.  I  never  had 
time;  that  is,  until  now.  I'll  tell  you,  though, 
this  being  away  from  the  business  grind  is  a 
great  thing.  You  don't  know  how  I  enjoy  the 
fresh  air  and  the  being  out  in  the  country  this 
way,  and  the  absolute  freedom  from  business 
cares  and  worries." 

"But  where  are  you  going?"  asked  Stevens, 
for  Sam  was  getting  up.  "You'll  stay  to  lunch 
with  us,  won't  you?" 

"No,  thanks,"  replied  Sam,  looking  at  his 
watch.  "I  expect  some  word  from  my  kid 
brother.  I  have  wired  him  to  send  some  sam- 
ples of  marsh  pulp,  and  the  paper  we've  had 
made  from  it." 

"Marsh  pulp,"  repeated  Mr.  Stevens. 
"That's  a  new  one  on  me.  What's  it  like?" 

"Greatest  stunt  on  earth,"  replied  Sam  con- 
fidently.  "It  is  our  scheme  to  meet  the  defor- 
estation danger  on  the  way — coming." 
76 


MISS   JOSEPHINE'S    FATHER 

Already  he  was  reaching  in  his  pocket  for 
paper  and  pencil,  and  sat  down  again  at  the  side 
of  Mr.  Stevens,  who  immediately  began  strok- 
ing his  aggressive  beard.  Fifteen  minutes  later 
Sam  briskly  got  up  again  and  Mr.  Stevens 
shook  hands  with  him. 

"That's  a  great  scheme,"  he  said,  and  he 
gazed  after  Sam's  broad  shoulders  admiringly 
as  that  young  man  strode  down  the  steps. 

On  his  way  Sam  passed  the  tennis  court 
where  the  one  girl  and  three  young  men  were 
engaged  in  a  most  dextrous  game,  a  game 
which  all  the  other  amateurs  of  Hollis  Creek 
Inn  had  stopped  their  own  sets  to  watch.  In 
the  pause  of  changing  sides  Miss  Josephine  saw 
him  and  waved  her  hand  and  wafted  a  gay 
word  to  him.  A  second  later  she  was  in  the  air, 
a  lithe,  graceful  figure,  meeting  a  high  "serve," 
and  Sam  walked  on  quite  thoughtfully. 

When  he  arrived  at  Meadow  Brook  his  first 
care  was  for  his  telegram.  It  was  there,  and 
bore  the  assurance  that  the  samples  would  ar- 

77 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

rive  on  the  following  morning.  His  next  step 
was  to  hunt  Miss  Westlake.  That  plump  young 
person  forgot  her  pique  of  the  morning  in  an 
instant  when  he  came  up  to  her  with  that  smil- 
ing "been-looking-for-you-everywhere,  mighty- 
glad-to-see-you"  cordiality. 

"I  want  you  to  teach  me  tennis,"  he  said  im- 
mediately. 

"I'm  afraid  I  can't  teach  you  much,"  she  re- 
plied with  becoming  diffidence,  "because  I'm 
not  a  good  enough  player  myself;  but  I'll  do 
my  best.  We'll  have  a  set  right  after  luncheon ; 
shall  we?" 

"Fine!"  said  he. 

After  luncheon  Mr.  Westlake  and  Mr.  Cuth- 
bert  waylaid  him,  but  he  merely  thrust  his  tele- 
gram into  Mr.  Westlake's  hands,  and  hurried 
off  to  the  tennis  grounds  with  Miss  Westlake 
and  Miss  Hastings  and  lanky  Bob  Tilloughby, 
who  stuttered  horribly  and  blushed  when  he 
spoke,  and  was  in  deadly  seriousness  about 
everything.  Never  did  a  man  work  so  hard  at 
78 


MISS   JOSEPHINE'S   FATHER 

anything  as  Sam  Turner  worked  at  tennis.  He 
had  a  keen  eye  and  a  dextrous  wrist,  and  he 
kept  the  game  up  to  top-notch  speed.  Of  course 
he  made  blunders  and  became  confused  in  his 
count  and  overlooked  opportunities,  but  he  cov- 
ered acres  of  ground,  as  Vivian  Hastings  ex- 
pressed it,  and  when,  at  the  end  of  an  hour, 
they  sat  down,  panting,  to  rest,  young  Til- 
loughby,  with  painful  earnestness,  assured  him 
that  he  had  "the  mum-mum-makings  of  a  fine 
tennis  player." 

Sam  considered  that  compliment  very 
thoughtfully,  but  he  was  a  trifle  dubious.  Al- 
ready he  perceived  that  tennis  playing  was  not 
only  an  occupation  but  a  calling. 

"Thanks,"  said  he.  "It's  mighty  nice  of  you 
to  say  so,  Tilloughby.  What's  the  next  game?" 

"The  nun-nun-next  game  is  a  stroll,"  Til- 
loughby soberly  advised  him.  "It  always  stus- 
stus-starts  out  as  a  foursome,  and  ends  up  in 
tut-tut-two  doubles." 

So  they  strolled.    They  wound  along  the 

79 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

brookside  among  some  of  the  pretty  paths,  and 
in  the  rugged  places  Miss  Westlake  threw  her 
weight  upon  Sam's  helping  arm  as  much  as 
possible ;  in  the  concealed  places  she  languished, 
which  she  did  very  prettily,  she  thought,  con- 
sidering her  one  hundred  and  sixty-three 
pounds.  They  took  him  through  a  detour  of 
shady  paths  which  occupied  a  full  hour  to  tra- 
verse, but  this  particular  game  did  not  wind  up 
in  "two  doubles."  In  spite  of  all  the  excellent 
tete-a-tete  opportunities  which  should  have 
risen  for  both  couples,  Miss  Westlake  was  an- 
noyed to  find  Miss  Hastings  right  close  behind, 
and  holding  even  the  conversation  to  a  four- 
some. 

In  the  meantime,  Sam  Turner  took  care- 
ful lessons  in  the  art  of  talking  twaddle,  and 
they  never  knew  that  he  was  bored.  Having 
entered  into  the  game  he  played  it  with  spirit, 
and  before  they  had  returned  to  the  house  Mr. 
Tilloughby  was  calling  him  Sus-Sus-Sam. 

The  girls  disappeared  for  their  beauty  sleep, 
80 


MISS   JOSEPHINE'S    FATHER 

and  Sam  found  McComas  and  Billy  Westlake 
hunting  for  him. 

"Do  you  play  base-ball?"  inquired  McCo- 
mas. 

"A  little.  I  used  to  catch,  to  help  out  my  kid 
brother,  who  is  an  expert  pitcher." 

"Good !"  said  McComas,  writing  down  Sam's 
name.  "Princeman  will  pitch,  but  we  needed  a 
catcher.  The  rivalry  between  Meadow  Brook 
and  Hollis  Creek  is  intense  this  year.  They've 
captured  nearly  all  the  early  trophies,  but  we're 
going  over  there  next  week  for  a  match  game 
and  we're  about  crazy  to  win." 

"I'll  do  the  best  I  can,"  promised  Sam.  "Got 
a  base-ball?  We'll  go  out  and  practise." 

They  slammed  hot  ones  into  each  other  for 
a  half  hour,  and  when  they  had  enough  of  it, 
McComas,  wiping  his  brow,  exclaimed  approv- 
ingly : 

"You'll  do  great  with  a  little  more  warming 
up.  We  have  a  couple  of  corking  players,  but 
we  need  them.  Hollis  always  pitches  for  Hollis 
81 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

Creek,  and  he  usually  wins  his  game.  On  base- 
ball day  he's  the  idol  of  all  the  girls." 

Sam  Turner  placed  his  hand  meditatively 
upon  the  back  of  his  neck  as  he  walked  in  to 
dress  for  dinner.  Making  a  good  impression 
upon  the  girls  was  a  separate  business,  it 
seemed,  and  one  which  required  much  prepara- 
tion. Well,  he  was  in  for  the  entire  circus,  but 
he  realized  that  he  was  a  little  late  in  starting. 
In  consequence  he  could  not  afford  to  overlook 
any  of  the  points;  so,  before  dressing  for  din- 
ner, he  paid  a  quiet  visit  to  the  greenhouses. 

That  evening,  while  he  was  bowling  with  all 
the  earnestness  that  in  him  lay,  Josephine  Ste- 
vens, resisting  the  importunities  of  young  Hol- 
lis  for  some  music,  sat  by  her  father. 

"Father,"  she  asked  after  long  and  sober 
thought,  "was  it  right  for  you,  knowing  Mr. 
Turner  to  be  after  that  walnut  lumber,  to  try 
to  get  it  away  from  him  by  telephoning?" 

"It  certainly  was!"  he  replied  emphatically. 
"Turner  went  down  there  with  a  deliberate  in- 
82 


MISS   JOSEPHINE'S   FATHER 

tention  of  buying  that  lumber  before  I  could 
get  it,  so  that  he  could  sell  it  to  me  at  as  big  a 
gain  as  possible.  I  paid  him  one  thousand  dol- 
lars profit  for  his  contract.  I  had  struggled  my 
best  to  beat  him  to  it ;  only  I  was  too  late.  Both 
of  us  were  playing  the  game  according  to  the 
rules,  but  he  is  a  younger  player." 

"I  see."  Another  long  pause.  "Here's  an- 
other thing.  Mr.  Turner  happened  to  know  of 
this  increase  in  the  price  of  lumber,  and  he  hur- 
ried down  there  to  a  man  who  didn't  know 
about  that,  and  bought  it.  If  Mr.  Gifford  had 
known  of  the  new  rates,  Mr.  Turner  could  not 
have  bought  those  trees  at  the  price  he  did, 
could  he?" 

"Certainly  not,"  agreed  her  father.  "He 
would  have  had  to  pay  nearly  a  thousand  dol- 
lars more  for  them." 

"Then  that  wasn't  right  of  Mr.  Turner,"  she 
asserted. 

"My  child,"  said  Mr.  Stevens  wearily,  "all 
business  is  conducted  for  a  profit,  and  the  only 
83 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

way  to  get  it  is  by  keeping  alive  and  knowing 
things  that  other  people  will  find  out  to-mor- 
row. Sam  Turner  is  the  shrewdest  and  the 
livest  young  man  I've  met  in  many  a  day,  and 
he's  square  as  a  die.  I'd  take  his  word  on  any 
proposition ;  wouldn't  you  ?" 

"Yes,  I  think  I'd  take  his  word,"  she  ad- 
mitted, and  very  positively,  after  mature  de- 
liberation. "But  truly,  father,  don't  you  think 
he's  too  much  concentrated  on  business?  He 
hasn't  a  thought  in  his  mind  for  anything  else. 
For  instance,  this  morning  he  came  over  to  take 
me  an  automobile  ride  around  Bald  Hill,  and 
when  he  found  out  about  this  walnut  grove, 
without  either  apology  or  explanation  to  me  he 
ordered  the  chauffeur  to  drive  right  down 
there." 

"Fine,"  laughed  her  father.  "I'd  like  to  hire 
him  for  my  manager,  if  I  could  only  offer  him 
enough  money.  But  I  don't  see  your  point  of 
criticism.  It  seems  to  me  that  he's  a  mighty 
presentable  and  likable  young  fellow,  good 
84 


MISS   JOSEPHINE'S    FATHER 

looking,  and  a  gentleman  in  the  sense  in  which 
I  like  to  use  that  word." 

"Yes,  he  is  all  of  those  things,"  she  admitted 
again ;  "but  it  is  a  flaw  in  a  young  man,  isn't 
it,"  she  persisted,  betraying  an  unusually  anx- 
ious interest,  "for  him  never  to  think  of  a  soli- 
tary thing  but  just  business?" 

They  were  sitting  in  one  of  the  alcoves  of  the 
assembly  room,  and  at  that  moment  a  bell-boy, 
wandering  around  the  place  with  apparent 
aimlessness,  spied  them  and  brought  to  Miss 
Josephine  a  big  box.  She  opened  it  and  an  ex- 
clamation of  pleasure  escaped  her.  In  the  box 
was  a  huge  bouquet  of  exquisite  roses,  soft  and 
glowing,  delicious  in  their  fragrance. 

Impulsively  she  buried  her  face  in  them. 

"Oh,  how  delightful!"  she  cried,  and.  she 
drew  out  the  white  card  which  peeped  forth 
from  amidst  the  stems.  "They  are  from  Mr. 
Turner!"  she  gasped. 

"You're  quite  right  about  him,"  commented 
her  father  dryly.  "He's  all  business." 
85 


CHAPTER  VI 

IN  WHICH  THE  SUMMER  LOAFER  ORDERS  SOME 
MARASCHINO  CHOCOLATES 

BEFORE  Sam  had  his  breakfast  the  next 
morning,  he  sat  in  his  room  with  some 
figures  with  which  Blackrock  and  Cuthbert  had 
provided  him  the  evening  before.  He  cast  them 
up  and  down  and  crosswise  and  diagonally, 
balanced  them  and  juggled  them  and  sorted 
them  and  shifted  them,  until  at  last  he  found 
the  rat  hole,  and  smiling  grimly,  placed  those 
pages  of  neat  figures  in  a  small  letter  file  which 
he  took  from  his  trunk.  One  thing  was  certain : 
the  Meadow  Brook  capitalists  were  highly  in- 
terested in  his  plan,  or  they  would  never  go  to 
the  trouble  to  devise,  so  early  in  the  game,  a 
scheme  for  gaining  control  of  the  marsh  pulp 
corporation.  Well,  they  were  the  exact  people 
he  wanted. 

86 


MARASCHINO  CHOCOLATES 

Immediately  after  breakfast  Miss  Stevens 
telephoned  over  to  thank  him  for  his  beautiful 
roses,  and  he  had  the  pleasure  of  letting  her 
know,  quite  incidentally,  that  he  had  gone  down 
to  the  rose-beds  and  picked  out  each  individual 
blossom  himself,  which,  of  course,  accounted 
for  their  excellence.  Also  he  suggested  coming 
over  that  morning  for  a  brief  walk. 

No,  she  was  very  sorry,  but  she  was  just 
making  ready  to  go  out  horseback  riding  with 
Mr.  Hollis,  who,  by  the  way,  was  an  excellent 
rider ;  but  they  would  be  back  from  their  canter 
about  ten-thirty,  and  if  Mr.  Turner  cared  to 
come  over  for  a  game  of  tennis  before  lunch- 
eon, why — " 

"Sorry  I  can't  do  it,"  returned  Mr.  Turner 
with  the  deepest  of  genuine  regret  in  his  tone. 
"My  kid  brother  is  sending  me  some  samples 
of  pulp  and  paper  which  will  arrive  at  about 
eleven  o'clock,  and  I  have  called  a  meeting  of 
some  interested  parties  here  to  examine  them  at 
about  eleven." 

87 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

"Business  again,"  she  protested.  "I  thought 
you  were  on  a  vacation." 

"I  am,"  he  assured  her  in  surprise.  "I  never 
lazied  around  so  or  frittered  up  so  much  time 
in  my  life;  and  I'm  enjoying  every  second  of 
my  freedom,  too.  I  tell  you,  it's  fine.  But  say, 
this  meeting  won't  take  over  an  hour.  ,Why 
can't  I  come  over  right  after  lunch?" 

She  was  very  sorry,  this  time  a  little  less  re- 
gretfully, that  after  luncheon  she  had  an  en- 
gagement with  Mr.  Princeman  to  play  a  match 
game  of  croquet.  But,  and  here  she  relented  a 
trifle,  they  were  getting  up  a  hasty,  informal 
dance  over  at  Hollis  Creek  for  that  evening. 
Would  he  come  over? 

He  certainly  would,  and  he  already  spoke  for 
as  many  dances  as  she  would  give  him. 

"I'll  give  you  what  I  can,"  she  told  him; 
"but  I've  already  promised  three  of  them  to 
Billy  Westlake,  who  is  a  divine  dancer." 

Sam  Turner  was  deeply  thoughtful  as  he 
turned  away  from  the  telephone.  Hollis  was  a 
88 


MARASCHINO  CHOCOLATES 

superb  horseback  rider.  Billy  Westlake  was  a 
divine  dancer.  Princeman,  he  had  learned  from 
Miss  Stevens,  who  had  spoken  with  vast  en- 
thusiasm, was  a  base-ball  hero.  Hollis  and 
Princeman  and  Westlake  were  crack  bowlers, 
also  crack  tennis  players,  and  no  doubt  all  three 
were  even  expert  croquet  players.  It  was  easy 
to  see  the  sort  of  men  she  admired.  Sam 
Turner  only  knew  one  recipe  to  get  things,  and 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  have  Miss  Stevens. 
He  promptly  sought  Miss  Westlake. 

"Do  you  ride?"  he  wanted  to  know. 

"Not  as  often  as  I'd  like,"  she  said. 

Really,  she  had  half  promised  to  go  driving 
with  Tilloughby,  but  it  was  not  an  actual  prom- 
ise, and  if  it  were  she  was  quite  willing  to  get 
out  of  it,  if  Mr.  Turner  wanted  her  to  go  along, 
although  she  did  not  say  so.  Young  Tilloughby 
was  notoriously  an  impossible  match.  But  pos- 
sibly Mr.  Tilloughby  and  Miss  Hastings  might 
care  to  join  the  party.  She  suggested  it. 

"Why,  certainly,"  said  Sam  heartily.  "The 
89 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

more  the  merrier,"  which  was  not  the  thing  she 
wanted  him  to  say. 

Tilloughby,  a  trifle  disappointed  yet  very  gra- 
cious, consented  to  ride  in  place  of  drive,  and 
Miss  Hastings  was  only  too  delighted ;  entirely 
too  much  so,  Miss  Westlake  thought.  Accord- 
ingly they  rode,  and  Sam  insisted  on  lagging 
behind  with  Miss  Westlake,  which  she  took  to 
be  of  considerable  significance,  and  exhibited 
a  very  obvious  fluttering  about  it.  Sam's 
motive,  however,  was  to  watch  Tilloughby  in 
the  saddle,  for  in  their  conversation  it  had 
developed  that  Tilloughby  was  a  very  fair 
rider;  and  everything  that  he  saw  Tilloughby 
do,  Sam  did.  En  route  they  met  Hollis  and 
Miss  Stevens,  cantering  just  where  the  Bald 
Hill  road  branched  off,  and  the  cavalcade  was 
increased  to  six.  Once,  in  taking  a  narrow 
cross-cut  down  through  the  woods,  Sam  had 
the  felicity  of  riding  beside  Miss  Stevens  for 
a  moment,  and  she  put  her  hand  on  his  horse 
and  patted  its  glossy  neck  and  admired  it,  while 
90 


MARASCHINO  CHOCOLATES 

Sam  admired  the  hand.  He  felt,  in  some  way 
or  other,  that  riding  for  that  ten  yards  by  her 
side  was  a  sort  of  triumph  over  Hollis,  until 
he  saw  her  dash  up  presently  by  the  side  of 
Hollis  again  and  chat  brightly  with  that  young 
gentleman. 

Thereafter  Sam  quit  watching  Tilloughby 
and  watched  Hollis.  Curly-head  was  an  ac- 
complished rider,  and  Sam  felt  that  he  him- 
self cut  but  an  awkward  figure.  In  reality 
he  was  too  conscious  of  his  defects.  By  strict 
attention  he  was  proving  himself  a  fair  ordi- 
nary rider,  but  when  Hollis,  out  of  sheer  showi- 
ness,  turned  aside  from  the  path  to  jump  his 
horse  over  a  fallen  tree,  and  Miss  Stevens  out 
of  bravado  followed  him,  Sam  Turner  well- 
nigh  ground  his  teeth,  and,  acting  upon  the 
impulse,  he  too  attempted  the  jump.  The  horse 
got  over  safely,  but  Sam  went  a  cropper  over 
his  head,  and  not  being  a  particle  hurt  had  to 
endure  the  good-natured  laughter  of  the  bal- 
ance of  them.  Miss  Stevens  seemed  as  much 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

amused  as  any  one!  He  had  not  caught  her 
look  of  fright  as  he  fell  nor  of  concern  as  he 
rose,  nor  could  he  estimate  that  her  laugh  was 
a  mild  form  of  hysteria,  encouraged  because  it 
would  deceive.  What  an  ass  he  was,  he 
savagely  thought,  to  exhibit  himself  before  her 
in  an  attempt  like  that,  without  sufficient  prep- 
aration! He  must  ride  every  morning,  by 
himself. 

Miss  Josephine  and  Mr.  Hollis  were  bound 
for  the  Bald  Hill  circle,  and  they  insisted,  the 
insistence  being  largely  on,  the  part  of  Miss 
Stevens,  on  the  others  accompanying  them; 
but  Mr.  Turner's  engagement  at  eleven  o'clock 
would  not  admit  of  this,  and  reluctantly  he 
took  Miss  Hastings  back  with  him,  leaving 
Miss  Westlake  and  young  Tilloughby  to  go  on. 
The  arrangement  suited  him  very  well,  for  at 
least  Hollis'  ride  with  Miss  Stevens  would  not 
be  a  tete-a-tete.  Miss  Westlake  strove  to  let 
him  understand  as  plainly  as  she  could  that 
she  was  only  going  with  Mr.  Tilloughby  be- 
92 


MARASCHINO  CHOCOLATES 

cause  of  her  previous  semi-engagement  with 
him — and  there  seemed  a  coolness  between 
Miss  Westlake  and  Miss  Hastings  as  they 
separated.  Miss  Hastings  did  her  best  on  the 
way  back  to  console  Mr.  Turner  for  the  absence 
of  Miss  Westlake.  Vivacious  as  she  always 
was,  she  never  was  more  so  than  now,  and 
before  Sam  knew  it  he  had  engaged  himself 
with  her  to  gather  ferns  in  the  afternoon. 

Upon  his  arrival  at  Meadow  Brook,  he  found 
his  express  package  and  also  a  couple  of  im- 
portant letters  awaiting  him,  and  immediately 
held  on  the  porch  a  full  meeting  of  the  ten- 
tative Marsh  Pulp  Company.  In  that  meet- 
ing he  decided  on  four  things:  first,  that 
these  hard-headed  men  of  business  were  highly 
favorable  to  his  scheme;  second,  that  Prince- 
man  and  Cuthbert,  who  knew  most  about  paper 
and  pulp,  were  so  profoundly  impressed  with 
his  samples  that  they  tried  to  conceal  it  from 
him ;  third,  that  Princeman,  at  first  his  warmest 
adherent,  was  now  most  stubbornly  opposed 
93 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

to  him,  not  that  he  wished  to  prevent  forming 
the  company,  but  that  he  wished  to  prevent 
Sam's  having  his  own  way;  fourth,  that  the 
crowd  had  talked  it  over  and  had  firmly  de- 
termined that  Sam  should  not  control  their 
money.  Princeman  was  especially  severe. 

"There  is  no  question  but  that  these  samples 
are  convincing  of  their  own  excellence,"  he  ad- 
mitted ;  "but  properly  to  estimate  the  value  of 
both  pulp  and  paper,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
know,  by  rigid  experiment,  the  precise  dif- 
ficulties of  manufacture,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
manner  in  which  these  particular  specimens 
were  produced." 

Mr.  Princeman's  words  had  undoubted 
weight,  casting,  as  they  did,  a  clammy  suspicion 
upon  Sam's  samples. 

"I  had  thought  of  that,"  confessed  Mr. 
Turner,  "and  had  I  not  been  prepared  to  meet 
such  a  natural  doubt,  to  say  nothing  of  such  a 
natural  insinuation,  I  should  never  have  sub- 
mitted these  samples.  Mr.  Princeman,  do  you 
94 


MARASCHINO  CHOCOLATES 

know  G.  W.  Creamer  of  the  Eureka  Paper 
Mills?" 

Mr.  Princeman,  with  a  wince,  did,  for  G.  W. 
Creamer  and  the  Eureka  Paper  Mills  were  his 
most  successful  competitors  in  the  manufacture 
of  special-priced  high-grade  papers.  Mr.  Cuth- 
bert  also  knew  Mr.  Creamer  intimately. 

"Good,"  said  Sam;  "then  Mr.  Creamer's 
letter  will  have  some  weight,"  and  he  turned  it 
over  to  Mr.  Blackrock.  That  gentleman,  set- 
ting his  spectacles  astride  his  nose  and  assum- 
ing his  most  profoundly  professional  air,  read 
aloud  the  letter  in  which  Mr.  Creamer  thanked 
Turner  and  Turner  for  reposing  confidence 
enough  in  him  to  reveal  their  process  and  per- 
mit him  to  make  experiments,  and  stated,  with 
many  convincing  facts  and  figures,  that  he  had 
made  several  separate  samples  of  the  pulp  in 
his  experimental  shop,  and  from  the  pulp  had 
made  paper,  samples  of  which  he  enclosed 
under  separate  cover,  stating  further  that  the 
pulp  could  be  manufactured  far  cheaper  than 
95 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

wood  pulp,  and  that  the  quality  of  the  paper, 
in  his  estimation,  was  even  superior ;  and  when 
the  company  was  formed,  he  wished  to  be  set 
down  for  a  good,  fat  block  of  stock. 

Having  submitted  exhibit  A  in  the  form  of 
his  brother's  samples  of  pulp  and  paper,  ex- 
hibit B  in  the  form  of  Mr.  Creamer's  letter,  and 
exhibit  C  in  the  form  of  Mr.  Creamer's  own 
samples  of  pulp  and  paper,  Mr.  Turner  rested 
quite  comfortably  in  his  chair,  thank  you. 

"This  seems  to  make  the  thing  positive,"  ad- 
mitted Mr.  Princeman.  "Mr.  Turner,  would 
you  mind  sending  some  samples  of  your  mate- 
rial to  my  factory  with  the  necessary  instruc- 
tions?" 

"Not  at  all,"  replied  Sam  suavely.  "We 
would  be  pleased  indeed  to  do  so,  just  as  soon 
as  our  patents  are  allowed." 

"Pending  that,"  suggested  Mr.  Westlake 
placidly,  looking  out  over  the  brook,  "why 
couldn't  we  organize  a  sort  of  tentative  com- 
pany? [Why  couldn't  we  at  least  canvass  our- 
96 


MARASCHINO  CHOCOLATES 

selves  and  see  how  much  of  Mr.  Turner's  stock 
we  would  take  up  among  us?" 

"That  is,"  put  in  Mr.  Cuthbert,  screwing  the 
remark  out  of  himself  sidewise,  "provided 
the  terms  of  incorporation  and  promotion  were 
satisfactory  to  us." 

"I  have  already  drawn  up  a  sort  of  pre- 
liminary proposition,  after  consultation  with 
our  friends  here,"  Mr.  Blackrock  now  stated, 
"and  purely  as  a  tentative  matter  it  might  be 
read." 

"Go  right  ahead,"  directed  Sam.  "I'm  a 
good  listener." 

Mr.  Blackrock  slowly  and  ponderously  read 
the  proposed  plan  of  incorporation.  Sam  rose 
and  looked  at  his  watch. 

"It  won't  do,"  he  announced  sharply.  "That 
whole  thing,  in  accordance  with  the  figures  you 
submitted  me  last  night,  is  framed  up  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  preventing  my  ever  securing 
control,  and  if  I  do  not  have  a  chance,  at  least, 
at  control,  I  won't  play." 

97. 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

"You  seem  to  be  very  sure  of  that,"  said 
Mr.  Princeman,  surveying  him  coldly;  "but 
there  is  another  thing  equally  sure,  and  that  is 
that  you  can  not  engage  capital  in  as  big  an 
enterprise  as  this  on  any  basis  which  will  sepa- 
rate the  control  and  the  money." 

"I'm  going  to  try  it,  though,"  retorted  Sam. 
"If  I  can't  separate  the  control  and  the  money 
I  suppose  I'll  have  to  put  up  with  the  best  terms 
I  can  get.  If  you  will  let  me  have  that  prospec- 
tus of  yours,  Mr.  Blackrock,  I'll  take  it  up  to 
my  room  and  study  it,  and  draw  up  a  counter 
prospectus  of  my  own." 

"With  pleasure,"  said  Mr.  Blackrock,  hand- 
ing it  over  courteously,  and  Mr.  Turner  rose. 

"I'll  say  this  much,  Sam,"  stated  Mr.  West- 
lake,  who  seemed  to  have  grown  more  friendly 
as  Mr.  Princeman  grew  cooler;  "if  you  can  get 
a  proposition  upon  which  we  are  all  agreed, 
I'll  take  fifty  thousand  of  that  stock  myself,  at 
fifty." 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,  Mr.  Turner,"  added 
98 


MARASCHINO  CHOCOLATES 

Mr.  Cuthbert,  "including  your  friend  Creamer, 
who  insists  upon  being  in,  I  imagine  that  we 
can  finance  your  entire  company  right  in  this 
crowd — if  the  terms  are  right." 

"Nothing  would  give  me  greater  pleasure, 
I'm  sure,"  said  Mr.  Turner,  and  bowed  himself 
away. 

In  place  of  going  to  his  room,  however,  he 
went  to  the  telegraph  office,  and  wired  his 
brother  in  New  York: 

"How  are  you  coming  on  with  pulp  company 
stock  subscription?" 

The  telegraph  office  was  in  one  corner  of 
the  post-office,  which  was  also  a  souvenir  room, 
with  candy  and  cigar  counters,  and  as  he  turned 
away  from  the  telegraph  desk  he  saw  Prince- 
man  at  the  candy  counter. 

"No,  I  don't  care  for  any  of  these,"  Prince- 
man  was  saying.  "If  you  haven't  maraschino 
chocolates  I  don't  want  any." 

Sam  immediately  stepped  back  to  the  tele- 

99 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

graph    desk    and    sent    another    wire    to   his 
brother : 

"Express  fresh  box  maraschino  chocolates 
to  Miss  Josephine  Stevens  Hollis  Creek  Inn 
enclose  my  card  personal  cards  in  upper  right- 
hand  pigeonhole  my  desk." 

Then  he  went  up-stairs  to  get  ready  for 
lunch.  Immediately  after  luncheon  he  received 
the  following  wire  from  his  brother : 

"Stock  subscription  rotten  everybody  likes 
scheme  but  object  to  our  control  but  no  hurry 
why  don't  you  rest  maraschinos  shipped  con- 
gratulate you." 


100 


CHAPTER  VII 

WHICH  EXHIBITS  THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  REMEM- 
BERING A  DANCE  NUMBER 

AND  so  the  kid  was  finding  the  same 
trouble  which  he  had  met.  They  had 
been  too  frank  in  stating  that  they  intended  to 
obtain  control  of  the  company  without  any 
larger  investments  than  their  patents  and  their 
scheme.  Sam  wandered  through  the  hall,  re- 
volving this  matter  in  his  mind,  and  out  at  the 
rear  door,  which  framed  an  inviting  vista  of 
green.  He  strolled  back  past  the  barn  toward 
the  upper  reaches  of  the  brook  path,  and  sitting 
amid  the  comfortably  gnarled  roots  of  a  big 
tree  he  lit  a  cigar  and  began  with  violence  to 
snap  little  pebbles  into  the  brook.  If  he  were 
promoting  a  crooked  scheme,  he  reflected  sav- 
agely, he  would  have  no  difficulty  whatever  in 
floating  it  upon  almost  any  terms  He  wanted. 
101 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

Well,  there  was  one  thing  certain ;  at  the  finish, 
control  would  be  in  his  own  hands !  But  how  to 
secure  it  and  still  float  the  company  promptly 
and  advantageously  ?  There  was  the  problem. 
He  liked  this  crowd.  They  were  good,  keen, 
vigorous,  enterprising  men,  fine  men  with 
whom  to  do  business,  men  who  would  snatch 
control  away  from  him  if  they  could,  and 
throw  him  out  in  the  cold  in  a  minute  if  they 
deemed  it  necessary  or  expedient.  Of  course 
that  was  to  be  expected.  It  was  a  part  of  the 
game.  He  would  rather  deal  with  these  pro- 
gressive people,  knowing  their  tendencies,  than 
with  a  lot  of  sapheads. 

How  to  get  control  ?  He  lingered  long  and 
thoughtfully  over  that  question,  perhaps  an 
hour,  until  presently  he  became  aware  that  a 
slight  young  girl,  with  a  fetching  sun-hat  and  a 
basket,  was  walking  pensively  along  the  path 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  brook,  for  the  third 
time.  Her  passing  and  repassing  before  his 
abstracted  and  unseeing  vision  had  become 
102 


A   DANCE   NUMBER 

slightly  monotonous,  and  for  the  first  time  he 
focused  his  eyes  back  from  their  distant  view 
of  pulp  marshes  and  stock  certificates  and 
inspected  the  girl  directly.  Why,  he  knew 
that  girl !  It  was  Miss  Hastings. 

As  if  in  obedience  to  his  steady  gaze  she 
looked  across  at  him  and  waved  her  basket. 

"Where  are  you  going?"  he  asked  with  the 
heartiness  of  enforced  courtesy. 

"After  ferns,"  she  responded,  and  laughed. 

"By  George,  that's  so!"  he  said,  and  ran  up 
the  stream  to  a  narrow  place  where  he  made  a 
magnificent  jump  and  only  got  one  shoe  wet. 

He  was  profuse,  not  in  his  apologies,  but  in 
his  intention  to  make  them. 

"Jinks!"  he  said.  "I'm  ashamed  to  say  I 
forgot  all  about  that.  I  found  myself  suddenly 
confronted  with  a  business  proposition  that  had 
to  be  worked  out,  and  I  thought  of  nothing 
else." 

"I  hope  you  succeeded,"  she  said  pleasantly. 

There  wasn't  a  particle  of  venge fulness  about 
103 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

Miss  Hastings.  She  was  not  one  to  hold  this 
against  him;  he  could  see  that  at  once!  She 
understood  men.  She  knew  that  grave  prob- 
lems frequently  confronted  them,  and  that  such 
minor  things  as  fern  gathering  expeditions 
would  necessarily  have  to  step  aside  and  be 
forgotten.  She  was  one  of  the  bright,  cheerful, 
always  smiling  kind;  one  who  would  make  a 
sunshiny  helpmate  for  any  man,  and  never 
object  to  anything  he  did — before  marriage. 

All  this  she  conveyed  in  lively  but  appealing 
chatter;  all,  that  is,  except  the  last  part  of  it, 
a  deduction  which  Sam  supplied  for  himself. 
For  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  had  paused  to 
judge  a  girl  as  he  would  "size  up"  a  man,  and 
he  was  a  little  bit  sorry  that  he  had  done  so, 
for  while  Miss  Hastings  was  very  agreeable, 
there  was  a  certain  acidulous  sharpness  about 
her  nose  and  uncompromising  thinness  about 
her  lips  which  no  amount  of  laughing  vivacity 
could  quite  conceal. 

Dutifully,  however,  he  gathered  ferns  for 
104 


A   DANCE    NUMBER 

the  rockery  of  her  aunt  in  Albany,  and  Miss 
Hastings,  in  return,  did  her  best  to  amuse  and 
delight,  and  delicately  to  convey  the  thought  of 
what  an  agreeable  thing  it  would  be  for  a  man 
always  to  have  this  cheerful  companionship. 
She  even,  on  the  way  back,  went  so  far  as  in- 
advertently to  call  him  Sam,  and  apologized 
immediately  in  the  most  charming  confusion. 

"Really,"  she  added  in  explanation,  "I  have 
heard  Mr.  Westlake  and  the  others  call  you 
Sam  so  often  that  the  name  just  seems  to  slip 
out." 

"That's  right,"  he  said  cordially.  "Sam's 
my  name.  When  people  call  me  Mr.  Turner 
I  know  they  are  strangers." 

"Then  I  think  I  shall  call  you  Sam,"  she  said, 
laughing  most  engagingly.  "It's  so  much 
easier,"  and  sure  enough  she  did  as  soon  as 
they  were  well  within  the  hearing  of  Miss 
Westlake,  at  the  hotel. 

"Oh,  Sam,"  she  called,  turning  in  the  door- 
way, "you  have  my  gloves  in  your  pocket." 
105 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

Miss  Westlake  stiffened  like  an  icicle,  and  a 
stern  resolve  came  upon  her.  Whatever  hap- 
pened, she  saw  her  duty  plainly  before  her. 
She  had  introduced  Mr.  Turner  to  Miss  Hast- 
ings, and  she  was  responsible.  It  was  her 
moral  obligation  to  rescue  him  from  the 
clutches  of  that  designing  young  person,  and 
she  immediately  reminded  him  that  she  had 
an  engagement  to  give  him  a  tennis  lesson 
every  day.  There  was  still  time  for  a  set  be- 
fore dinner.  Also,  far  be  it  from  her  to 
be  so  forward  as  to  call  him  Sam,  or  to  annoy 
him  with  silly  chattering.  She  was  serious- 
minded,  was  Miss  Westlake,  and  sweet  and 
helpful;  any  man  could  see  that;  and  she  fairly 
adored  business.  It  was  so  interesting. 

When  they  came  back  from  their  tennis 
game,  hurrying  because  it  was  high  time  to 
dress  for  dinner  and  the  dance,  she  met  Miss 
Hastings  in  the  hall,  but  the  two  bosom  friends 
barely  nodded.  There  had  sprung  up  an  un- 
accountable coolness  between  them,  a  coolness 
1 06 


A   DANCE   NUMBER 

which  Sam  by  no  means  noticed,  however,  for 
at  the  far  end  of  the  porch  sat  Princeman, 
already  back  from  Hollis  Creek  to  dress,  and 
with  him  were  Westlake  and  McComas  and 
Blackrock  and  Cuthbert,  and  they  were  in  very 
close  conference.  When  Sam  approached  them 
they  stopped  talking  abruptly  for  just  one  lit- 
tle moment,  then  resumed  the  conversation 
quite  naturally,  even  more  than  quite  naturally 
in  fact,  and  the  experienced  Sam  smiled  grimly 
as  he  excused  himself  to  dress. 

Billy  Westlake  met  him  as  he  was  going 
up-stairs.  To  Billy  had  been  entrusted  the  of- 
fice of  rounding  up  all  the  young  people  who 
were  going  over  to  Hollis  Creek,  and  by  pre- 
vious instruction,  though  wondering  at  his 
sister's  choice,  he  assigned  Sam  to  that  young 
lady,  a  fate  which  Sam  accepted  with  becoming 
gratitude. 

He  had  plenty  of  food  for  thought  as  he 
donned  his  costume  of  dead  black  and  staring 
white,  and  somehow  or  other  he  was  distrait 
107 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

that  evening  all  the  way  over  to  Hollis  Creek. 
Only  when  he  met  Miss  Scevens  did  he 
brighten,  as  he  might  well  do,  for  Miss  Stevens, 
charming  in  every  guise,  was  a  revelation  in 
evening  costume;  a  ravishing  revelation;  one 
to  make  a  man  pause  and  wonder  and  stand 
in  awe,  and  regard  himself  as  a  clumsy  creature 
not  worthy  to  touch  the  hem  of  the  garment 
which  embellished  such  a  divine  being.  Never- 
theless he  conquered  that  wave  of  diffidence  in 
a  jiffy,  or  something  like  half  that  space  of 
time,  and  shook  hands  with  her  most  eagerly, 
and  looked  into  her  eyes  and  was  grateful ;  for 
he  found  them  smiling  up  at  him  in  most 
friendly  fashion,  and  with  rather  an  electric 
thrill  in  them,  too,  though  whether  the  thrill 
emanated  from  the  eyes  or  was  merely  within 
himself  he  was  not  sure. 

"How  many  dances  do  I  get?"  he  abruptly 
demanded. 

"Just  two,"  she  told  him,  and  showed  him 
her  card  and  gave  him  one  on  which  a  list  of 
108 


A   DANCE   NUMBER 

names  had  already  been  marked  by  the  young 
ladies  of  Hollis  Creek. 

He  saw  on  the  card  two  dances  with  Miss 
Stevens,  one  each  with  Miss  Westlake  and 
Miss  Hastings,  and  one  each  with  a  number  of 
other  young  ladies  whom  he  had  met  but 
vaguely,  and  one  each  with  some  whom  he  had 
not  met  at  all.  He  dutifully  went  through  the 
first  dance  with  a  young  lady  of  excellent  con- 
nections who  would  make  a  prime  companion 
for  any  advancing  young  man  with  social 
aspirations;  he  went  dutifully  through  the  next 
dance  with  a  young  lady  who  was  keen  on 
intellectual  pursuits,  and  who  would  make  an 
excellent  helpmate  for  any  young  man  who 
wished  to  advance  in  culture  as  he  progressed 
in  business,  and  danced  the  next  one  with  a 
young  lady  who  believed  that  home-making 
should  be  the  highest  aim  of  womankind ;  and 
then  came  his  first  dance  with  Miss  Stevens! 
They  did  not  talk  very  much,  but  it  was  very, 
very  comforting  to  be  with  her,  just  to  know 
109 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

that  she  was  there,  and  to  know  that  somehow 
she  understood.  He  was  sorry,  though,  that 
he  stepped  upon  her  gown. 

The  promenade,  which  had  seemed  quite 
long  enough  with  the  other  young  ladies, 
seemed  all  too  short  for  Sam  up  to  the  point 
when  Billy  Westlake  came  to  take  Miss  Jo- 
sephine away.  He  was  feeling  rather  lonely 
when  Tilloughby  came  up  to  him,  with  a 
charming  young  lady  who  was  in  quite  a  flut- 
ter. It  seemed  that  there  had  been  a  dreadful 
mistake  in  the  making  out  of  the  dance  cards, 
which  the  young  ladies  of  Hollis  Creek  had 
endeavored  to  do  with  strict  equity,  though 
hastily,  and  all  was  now  inextricable  confusion. 
The  charming  young  lady  was  on  the  cards 
for  this  dance  with  both  Mr.  Tilloughby  and 
Mr.  Turner,  and  Mr.  Tilloughby  had  claimed 
her  first.  Would  Mr.  Turner  kindly  excuse 
her?  Just  behind  her  came  another  young  lady 
whom  Mr.  Tilloughby  introduced.  This  young 
lady  was  on  Sam's  card  for  the  next  dance  fol- 
110 


A   DANCE    NUMBER 

lowing  this  one,  but  it  should  be  for  the  eighth 
dance,  and  would  Mr.  Turner  please  change  his 
card  accordingly,  which  Mr.  Turner  obligingly 
did,  wondering  what  he  should  do  when  it  came 
to  the  eighth  dance  and  he  should  find  himself 
obligated  to  two  young  ladies.  Oh,  well,  he  re- 
flected, no  doubt  the  other  young  lady  was 
down  for  the  eighth  dance  with  some  one  else, 
if  they  had  things  so  mixed.  Of  one  thing  he 
was  sure.  He  had  that  tenth  dance  with  Miss 
Stevens.  He  had  inspected  both  cards  to  make 
certain  of  that,  and  had  seen  with  carefully 
concealed  joy  that  she  had  compared  them  as 
minutely  as  he  had.  He  saw  confusion  going 
on  all  about  him,  laughing  young  people  at- 
tempting to  straighten  out  the  tangle,  and  the 
dance  was  slow  in  starting. 

Almost  the  first  two  on  the  floor  were  Miss 
Stevens  and  Billy  Westlake,  and  as  he  saw 
them,  from  his  vantage  point  outside  one  of 
the  broad  windows,  gliding  gracefully  up  the 
far  side  of  the  room,  he  realized  with  a  twinge 
in 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

of  impatience  what  a  remarkably  unskilled 
dancer  he  himself  was.  Billy  and  Miss  Stevens 
were  talking,  too,  with  the  greatest  animation, 
and  she  was  looking  up  at  Billy  as  brightly, 
even  more  brightly  he  thought,  than  she  had  at 
himself.  There  was  a  delicate  flush  on  her 
cheeks.  Her  lips,  full  and  red  and  deliciously 
curved,  were  parted  in  a  smile.  Confound  it 
anyhow!  What  could  she  find  to  talk  about 
with  Billy  Westlake? 

He  was  turning  away  in  more  or  less  im- 
patience, when  Mr.  Stevens,  looking,  in  some 
way,  with  his  aggressive,  white,  outstanding 
beard,  as  if  he  ought  to  have  a  red  ribbon 
diagonally  across  his  white  shirt  front,  ranged 
beside  him. 

"Fine  sight,  isn't  it  ?"  observed  Mr.  Stevens. 

"Yes,"  admitted  Mr.  Turner,  almost  shortly, 
and  forced  himself  to  turn  away  from  the  fol- 
lowing of  that  dazzling  vision,  which  was  al- 
most painful  under  the  circumstances. 

By  mutual  impulse  they  walked  down  the 
112 


A    DANCE   NUMBER 

length  of  the  side  porch  and  across  the  front 
porch.  Sam  drew  himself  away  from  dancing 
and  certain  correlated  ideas  with  a  jerk. 

"I've  been  wanting  to  talk  with  you,  Mr. 
Stevens,"  he  observed.  "I  think  I'll  drop  over 
to-morrow  for  a  little  while." 

"Glad  to  have  you  any  time,  Sam,"  re- 
sponded Mr.  Stevens  heartily,  "but  there  is  no 
time  like  the  present,  you  know.  What's  on 
your  mind?" 

"This  Marsh  Pulp  Company,"  said  Sam; 
"do  you  know  anything  about  pulp  and  paper?" 

"A  little  bit.  You  know  I  have  some  stock 
in  Princeman's  company." 

"Oh,"  returned  Sam  thoughtfully. 

"Not  enough  to  hurt,  however,"  Stevens 
went  on.  "Twenty  shares,  I  believe.  When 
I  went  in  I  had  several  times  as  much,  but  not 
enough  to  make  me  a  dominant  factor  by  any 
means,  and  Princeman,  as  he  made  more 
money,  wanted  some  of  it,  so  I  let  him  buy 
up  quite  a  number  of  shares.  At  one  time  I 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

was  very  much  interested,  however,  and  visited 
the  mills  quite  frequently." 

"You're  rather  close  to  Princeman  in  a 
business  way,  aren't  you?"  Sam  asked  after 
duly  cautious  reflection. 

"Not  at  all,  although  we  get  along  very 
nicely  indeed.  I  made  money  on  my  paper 
stock,  both  in  dividends  and  in  a  very  com- 
fortable advance  when  I  sold  it.  Our  relations 
have  always  been  friendly,  but  very  little  more. 
Why?" 

"Oh,  nothing.  Only  Princeman  is  much  in- 
terested in  my  Pulp  Company,  and  all  the  peo- 
ple who  are  going  in  are  his  friends.  The 
crowd  over  at  Meadow  Brook  talks  of  taking 
up  approximately  the  entire  stock  of  my  com- 
pany. I  thought  possibly  you  might  be  inter- 
ested." 

"I  am  right  now,  from  what  I  have  already 

heard  of  it,"  returned  Stevens,  who  had  almost 

at  first  sight  succumbed  to  that  indefinable 

personal  appeal  which  caused  Sam  Turner  to 

114 


A   DANCE    NUMBER 

be  trusted  of  all  men.  "I  shall  be  very  glad  to 
hear  more  about  it.  It  struck  me  when  you 
spoke  of  it  yesterday  as  a  very  good  proposi- 
tion." 

They  had  reached  the  dark  corner  at  the  far 
end  of  the  porch,  illumined  only  by  the  sub- 
dued light  which  came  from  a  half -hidden 
window,  and  now  they  sat  down.  Sam  fished 
in  the  little  armpit  pocket  of  his  dress  coat 
and  dragged  forth  two  tiny  samples  of  pulp 
and  two  tiny  samples  of  paper. 

"These  two,"  he  stated,  "were  samples  sent 
me  to-day  by  my  kid  brother." 

Mr.  Stevens  took  the  samples  and  examined 
them  with  interest.  He  felt  their  texture.  He 
twisted  them  and  crumpled  them  and  bent  them 
backward  and  forward  and  tore  them.  Then, 
the  light  at  this  window  being  too  weak,  he 
went  to  one  of  the  broad  windows  where  a 
stronger  stream  of  light  came  out,  and  ex- 
amined them  anew.  Sam,  still  sitting  in  his 
chair,  nodded  in  satisfied  approval.  He  liked 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

that  kind  of  inspection.  Mr.  Stevens  brought 
the  samples  back. 

"They  are  excellent,  so  far  as  I  am  able  to 
judge,"  he  announced.  "These  are  samples 
made  by  yourselves  from  marsh  products?" 

"Yes,"  Sam  assured  him.  "Made  from 
marsh-grown  material  by  our  new  process, 
which  is  much  cheaper  than  the  wood-pulp 
process.  Do  you  know  Mr.  Creamer  of  the 
Eureka  Paper  Mills?" 

"Not  very  well.  I've  met  him  once  or  twice 
at  dinners,  but  I'm  not  intimately  acquainted 
with  him.  I  hear,  however,  that  he  is  an 
authority." 

"Here's  a  letter  from  him,  and  some  samples 
made  by  him  under  our  process,"  said  Sam 
with  secret  satisfaction.  "I  just  received  them 
this  morning."  From  the  same  pocket  he  took 
the  letter  without  its  envelope,  and  with  it 
handed  over  the  two  other  small  samples. 

"That's  a  fine  showing,"  Stevens  commented 
when  he  had  examined  document  and  samples 
116 


A   DANCE   NUMBER 

and  brought  them  back,  and  he  sat  down, 
edging  about  so  that  he  and  Sam  sat  side  by 
side  but  facing  each  other,  as  in  a  tete-a-tete 
chair.  "Now  tell  me  all  about  it." 

On  and  on  went  the  music  in  the  ball-room, 
on  went  the  shuffling  of  feet,  the  swish  of  gar- 
ments, the  gay  talk  and  laughter  of  the  young 
people ;  and  on  and  on  talked  Mr.  Stevens  and 
Mr.  Turner,  until  one  familiar  strain  of  music 
penetrated  into  Sam's  inner  consciousness ;  the 
Home  Sweet  Home  waltz ! 

"By  George!"  he  exclaimed,  jumping  up. 
"That  can't  be  the  last." 

"Sounds  like  it,"  commented  Mr.  Stevens, 
also  rising.  "It  is  the  last  if  they  make  up 
programs  as  they  did  in  my  young  days.  I 
don't  remember  of  many  dances  where  the 
Home  Sweet  Home  waltz  didn't  end  it  up. 
It's  late  enough  anyhow.  It's  eleven-thirty." 

"Then  I  have  done  it  again!"  said  Sam  rue- 
fully. "I  had  the  number  ten  dance  with  your 
daughter." 

117 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

Mr.  Stevens  closed  his  eyes  to  laugh. 

"You  certainly  have  put  your  foot  in  it," 
he  admitted.  "Oh,  well,  Jo's  sensible,"  he 
added  with  a  father's  fond  ignorance.  "She'll 
understand." 

"That's  what  I'm  afraid  of,"  replied  Mr. 
Turner  ruefully.  "You'll  have  to  intercede  for 
me.  Explain  to  her  about  it  and  soften  the 
case  as  much  as  you  can.  Frankly,  Mr. 
Stevens,  I'd  be  tremendously  cut  uj>  to  be  on 
the  outs  with  Miss  Josephine." 

"There  are  shoals  of  young  men  who  feel 
that  way  about  it,  Sam,"  said  Mr.  Stevens  with 
large  and  commendable  pride.  "However,  I 
am  glad  that  you  have  added  yourself  to  the 
list,"  and  he  gazed  after  Sam  with  considerable 
approbation,  as  that  young  man  hurried  away 
to  display  his  abjectness  to  the  young  lady  in 
question. 

Three  times,  on  the  arm  of  Princeman,  she 
whirled  past  the  open  doorway  where  Sam 
stood,  but  somehow  or  other  he  found  it  im- 
118 


A   DANCE    NUMBER 

possible  to  catch  her  eye.  The  dance  ended 
when  she  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  room, 
and  immediately,  with  the  last  strains,  the  floor 
was  in  confusion.  Sam  tried  desperately  to 
hurry  across  to  where  she  was,  but  he  lost  her 
in  the  crowd.  He  did  not  see  her  again  until  all 
of  the  Meadow  Brook  folk,  including  himself, 
were  seated  in  the  carryalls,  at  which  time  the 
Hollis  Creek  folk  were  at  the  edge  of  the  porte- 
cochere  and  both  parties  were  exchanging  a 
gabbling  pandemonium  of  good-bys.  He  saw 
her  then,  standing  back  among  the  crowd,  and 
shouting  her  adieus  as  vociferously  as  any  of 
them.  He  caught  her  eye  and  she  nodded  to 
him  as  pleasantly  as  to  anybody,  which  was 
really  worse  than  if  she  had  refused  to  ac- 
knowledge him  at  all! 


119 


CHAPTER   VIII 

NOT   SAM'S   FAULT  THIS  TIME 

NO,  Miss  Stevens  was  sorry  that  she 
could  not  go  walking  with  him  that 
morning,  which  was  the  morning  after  the 
dance.  She  was  very  polite  about  it,  too;  al- 
most too  polite.  Her  voice  over  the  telephone 
was  as  suave  and  as  limpid  as  could  possibly  be, 
but  there  was  a  sort  of  metallic  glitter  behind 
it,  as  it  were. 

No,  she  could  not  see  him  that  afternoon 
either.  She  had  made  a  series  of  engagements, 
in  fact,  covering  the  entire  day.  Also,  she 
regretted  to  say,  upon  further  solicitation,  that 
she  had  made  engagements  covering  the  entire 
following  day. 

No,  she  was  not  piqued  about  his  last 
night's  forget  fulness;  by  no  means;  certainly 
not ;  how  absurd ! 

120 


NOT    SAM'S   FAULT   THIS    TIME 

She  quite  understood.  He  had  been  talking 
business  with  her  father,  and  naturally  such  a 
trifling  detail  as  a  dance  with  frivolous  young 
people  would  not  occur  to  him. 

Frivolous  young  people !  This  was  the  exact 
point  of  the  conversation  at  which  Sam,  with 
his  ear  glued  to  the  receiver  of  the  telephone 
and  no  necessity  for  concealing  the  concerned 
expression  on  his  countenance,  thought,  in 
more  or  less  of  a  panic,  that  he  must  really  be 
getting  old,  which  was  a  good  joke,  inasmuch 
as  nobody  ever  took  him  to  be  over  twenty-five. 
Heretofore  his  boyish  appearance  had  worried 
him  because  it  rather  stood  in  the  way  of  busi- 
ness, but  now  he  began  to  fear  that  he  was 
losing  it;  for  he  was  nearing  thirty! 

Well,  pleading  was  of  no  avail.  He  had  to 
give  it  up.  Reluctantly  he  went  out  and  took 
a  solitary  walk,  then  came  in  and  religiously 
played  his  two  hours  of  tennis  with  Miss 
Westlake  and  Miss  Hastings  and  Tilloughby. 
Was  he  not  on  vacation,  and  must  he  not  enjoy 
121 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

himself?  Just  before  he  went  in  to  luncheon, 
however,  there  was  a  telephone  call  for  him. 

Miss  Stevens  was  perplexed  to  know  what 
divine  intuition  had  told  him  her  obsession  for 
maraschino  chocolates.  She  had  one  in  her 
fingers  at  the  very  moment  she  was  telephon- 
ing, and  she  was  going  to  pop  it  into  her 
mouth  while  he  talked.  Being  a  mere  man  he 
could  not  realize  how  delightfully  refreshing 
was  a  maraschino  chocolate. 

Sam  had  a  lively  picture  of  that  dainty  con- 
fection between  the  tips  of  her  dainty  fingers ; 
he  could  see  the  white  hand  and  the  graceful 
wrist,  and  then  he  could  see  those  exquisitely 
curved  red  lips  parting  with  a  flash  of  white 
teeth  to  receive  the  delicacy;  and  he  had  an 
impulse  to  climb  through  the  telephone. 

A  little  bird  had  told  him  about  her  prefer- 
ence, he  stated.  He  had  that  little  bird  reg- 
ularly in  his  employ  to  find  out  other  prefer- 
ences. 

"I  had  those  sent  just  to  show  you  that 

122 


NOT    SAM'S    FAULT   THIS    TIME 

I  am  not  altogether  absorbed  in  business,"  he 
went  on;  "that  I  can  think  of  other  things. 
Have  another  chocolate." 

"I  am,"  she  laughingly  said;  "but  I'm  not 
going  to  eat  them  all.  I'm  going  to  save  one 
or  two  for  you." 

"Good,"  returned  Sam  in  huge  delight  and 
relief.  "I'll  come  over  to  get  them  any  time 
you  say." 

"All  right,"  she  gaily  agreed.  "As  I  told 
you  this  morning,  I  have  an  engagement  for 
this  afternoon,  but  if  you'll  come  over  after 
luncheon  I'll -try  to  find  a  half-hour  or  so  for 
you  anyhow." 

Great  blotches  of  perspiration  sprang  out 
on  his  forehead. 

"Jinks!"  he  ejaculated.  "You  know,  right 
after  you  telephoned  me  this  morning  I  made 
an  engagement  with  Mr.  Blackrock  and  Mr. 
Cuthbert  and  Mr.  Westlake,  to  go  over  some 
proposed  incorporation  papers." 

"Oh,  by  all  means,  then,  keep  your  engage- 
123 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

ment,"  she  told  him,  and  he  could  feel  the 
instant  frigidity  which  returned  to  her  tone.  A 
zero-like  wave  seemed  to  come  right  through 
the  transmitter  of  the  telephone  and  chill  the 
perspiration  of  his  brow  into  a  cold  trickle. 

"No,  I'll  see  if  I  can  not  set  that  engagement 
off  for  a  couple  of  hours,"  he  hastily  informed 
her. 

"By  no  means,"  she  protested,  more  frigidly 
than  before.  "Come  to  think  of  it,  I  don't 
believe  I'd  have  time  anyhow.  In  fact,  I'm 
sure  that  I  would  not.  Mr.  Hollis  is  calling 
me  now.  Good-by." 

"Wait  a  minute,"  he  called  desperately  into 
the  telephone,  but  it  was  dead,  and  there  is 
nothing  in  this  world  so  dead  as  the  telephone 
from  which  connection  has  been  suddenly  shut 
off. 

Sam  strode  into  the  dining-room  and  went 
straight  over  to  Blackrock's  table. 

"I  find  I  have  some  pressing  business  right 
after  luncheon,"  he  said,  bending  over  that 
124 


NOT    SAM'S    FAULT   THIS    TIME 

gentleman's  chair.  "I  can't  possibly  meet  you 
at  two  o'clock.  Will  four  do  you?" 

"Why,  certainly,"  Mr.  Blackrock  was  kind 
enough  to  say,  and  he  furthermore  agreed,  with 
equal  graciousness,  to  inform  the  others. 

Sam  ate  his  luncheon  in  worried  silence, 
replying  only  in  monosyllables  to  the  remarks 
of  McComas,  who  sat  at  his  table,  and  of  Mrs. 
McComas,  who  had  taken  quite  a  young- 
motherly  fancy  to  him ;  and  the  amount  that  he 
ate  was  so  much  at  variance  with  his  usual 
hearty  appetite  that  even  the  maid  who  waited 
on  his  table,  a  tall,  gangling  girl  with  a  vine- 
gar face  and  a  kind  heart,  worried  for  fear  he 
might  be  sick,  and  added  unordered  delicacies 
to  his  American  plan  meal.  He  went  over  to 
Hollis  Creek  in  the  swiftest  conveyance  he 
could  obtain,  which  was  naturally  an  auto,  but 
he  did  not  have  'Ennery  for  his  chauffeur,  of 
which  he  was  heartily  glad,  for  'Ennery  might 
have  wanted  to  talk. 

On  the  porch  of  Hollis  Creek  Inn  he  found 
I25 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

Princeman  and  Mr.  Stevens  in  earnest  con- 
versation. He  knew  what  that  meant.  Prince- 
man was  already  discussing  with  Mr.  Stevens 
the  matter  of  control  of  the  Marsh  Pulp  Com- 
pany. Princeman  rose  when  Sam  stepped  up 
on  the  porch,  and  strolled  away  from  Mr. 
Stevens.  He  nodded  pleasantly  to  Turner,  and 
the  latter,  returning  the  nod  fully  as  pleasantly, 
was  about  to  hurry  on  in  search  of  Miss 
Josephine,  when  Mr.  Stevens  checked  him. 

"Hello,  Sam,"  he  called.  "I've  just  been 
waiting  to  see  you." 

"All  right,"  said  Sam.  "I'll  be  around  pres- 
ently." 

"No,  but  come  here,"  insisted  Mr.  Stevens. 

Sam  cast  a  nervous  glance  about  the  grounds 
and  along  the  side  porch ;  Miss  Josephine  most 
certainly  was  not  among  those  present.  He 
still  hesitated,  impatient  to  get  away. 

"Just  a  minute,  Sam,"  insisted  Stevens.  "I 
want  to  talk  to  you  right  now." 

With  unwilling  feet  Sam  went  over. 
126 


NOT    SAM'S   FAULT   THIS   TIME 

"Sit  down,"  directed  Stevens,  pushing  for- 
ward a  chair. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Sam,  still  standing. 

"I  have  been  talking  with  Princeman  and 
.Westlake  about  your  Marsh  Pulp  Company." 

"Yes,"  inquired  Sam  nervously. 

"And  everybody  seems  to  be  most  enthusias- 
tic about  it.  Fact  of  the  matter  is,  my  boy,  I 
consider  it  a  tremendous  investment  opportu- 
nity. The  only  drawback  there  seems  to  be  is  in 
the  matter  of  stock  distribution  and  voting 
power.  I  want  you  to  explain  this  very  fully 
to  me." 

"I  thought  you  were  quite  satisfied  with  our 
talk  last  night,"  returned  Sam,  glancing  hastily 
over  his  shoulder. 

"I  am,  in  so  far  as  the  investment  goes,  Sam. 
I've  promised  you  that  I'd  take  a  good  block 
of  stock,  and  you've  promised  to  make  room 
for  me  in  the  company.  I  expect  to  go  through 
with  that,  but  I  want  to  know  about  this  other 
phase  of  the  matter  before  I  get  into  any  en- 
127 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

tanglements  with  opposing  factions.  Now  you 
sit  right  down  there  and  tell  me  about  it." 

Despairingly  Sam  sat  down  and  proceeded 
briefly  and  concisely  to  explain  to  him  the 
various  plans  of  incorporation  which  had  been 
proposed.  Ten  minutes  later  he  almost 
groaned,  as  a  trap,  drawn  by  a  pair  of  hand- 
some buckskin  horses,  driven  by  Princeman 
and  containing  Miss  Josephine,  crunched  upon 
the  gravel  driveway  in  front  of  the  porch. 
Miss  Stevens  greeted  Mr.  Turner  very  heartily 
indeed,  Princeman  stopping  for  that  purpose. 
Sam  ran  down  and  shook  hands  with  her. 
Oh,  she  was  most  cordial;  just  as  cordial  and 
polite  as  anybody  he  knew! 

"I  did  not  expect  you  at  all,"  she  said,  "but 
I  knew  you  were  here,  for  I  saw  you  from  the 
window  as  you  came  up  the  drive.  Pleasant 
weather,  isn't  it?  Oh,  papa!" 

"Yes,"  answered  Mr.  Stevens  ponderously 
from  his  place  on  the  porch. 

"Up  on  my  dresser  you  will  find  a  box  of 
128 


NOT    SAM'S    FAULT   THIS    TIME 

candy  which  Mr.  Turner  was  kind  enough  to 
have  sent  me,  and  he  confesses  that  he  has 
never  tasted  maraschino  chocolates.  Won't 
you  please  run  up  and  get  them  and  let  Mr. 
Turner  sample  them?" 

"Huh!"  grunted  Mr.  Stevens.  "If  Sam 
Turner  insists  upon  running  me  up  two  flights 
of  stairs  on  an  errand  of  that  sort,  I  suppose 
I'll  have  to  go.  But  he  won't." 

"You're  lazy,"  she  said  to  her  father  in  af- 
fectionate banter,  then,  with  a  wave  of  her 
hand  and  a  bright  nod  to  Mr.  Turner,  she  was 
gone! 

Sam  trudged  slowly  up  on  the  porch  with  the 
heart  gone  entirely  out  of  him  for  business; 
and  yet,  as  he  approached  Mr.  Stevens  he 
pulled  himself  together  with  a  jerk.  After  all, 
she  was  gone,  and  he  could  not  bring  her  back, 
and  in  his  talk  with  Stevens  he  had  just  ap- 
proached a  grave  and  serious  situation. 

"The  fact  of  the  matter  is,  Mr.  Stevens," 
said  he  as  he  sat  down  again,  "these  people  are 
129 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

the  very  people  I  want  to  get  into  my  concern, 
but  they  are  old  hands  at  the  stock  incorpora- 
tion game,  and  even  before  I've  organized  the 
company  they  are  planning  to  get  it  out  of  my 
hands.  Now  it  is  my  scheme,  mine  and  the 
kid  brother's,  and  I  don't  propose  to  allow 
that." 

"Well,  Sam,"  said  Mr.  Stevens  slowly,  "you 
Icnow  capital  of  late  has  had  a  lot  of  experience 
with  corporate  business,  and  it  isn't  the  fash- 
ionable thing  this  year  for  the  control  and  the 
capital  to  be  in  separate  hands — right  at  the 
very  beginning." 

This  was  the  signal  for  the  struggle,  and 
Sam  plunged  earnestly  into  the  conflict.  At 
three-fifteen  he  suddenly  rose  and  made  his 
adieus.  He  would  have  liked  to  stay  until  Miss 
Josephine  came  back,  so  that  he  could  make  one 
more  desperate  attempt  to  set  himself  right 
with  her,  but  there  was  that  deferred  engage- 
ment with  Blackrock,  and  reluctantly  he 
whirled  back  to  Meadow  Brook. 
130 


CHARTER  IX 

WHEREIN  SAM  TURNER  PROVES  HIMSELF  TO  BE 
A  VIOLENT  FLIRT 

THE  rest  of  that  week  was  a  worried  and 
an  anxious  one  for  Sam.  He  sent  daily 
advices  to  his  brother,  and  he  received  daily  ad- 
vices in  return.  The  people  upon  whom  he  had 
originally  counted  to  form  the  Marsh  Pulp 
Company  had  set  themselves  coldly  against  the 
matter  of  control,  and  on  comparing  the  ap- 
parent situation  in  New  York  with  the  situation 
at  Meadow  Brook,  he  made  sure  that  he  could 
secure  more  advantageous  terms  with  the 
Princeman  crowd.  He  spent  his  time  in  wres- 
tling with  his  prospective  investors  both  singly 
and  in  groups,  but  they  were  obdurate.  They 
liked  his  company,  they  saw  in  it  tremendous 
possibilities,  but  they  did  not  intend  to  invest 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

their  money  where  they  could  not  vote  it.  That 
was  flat! 

This  was  on  the  business  side.  About  the 
really  important  matter  of  Miss  Stevens,  since 
his  most  recent  bad  performance,  the  time  when 
he  had  made  the  special  trip  to  see  her  and  had 
spent  his  time  in  talking  business  with  her  fa- 
ther, he  had  not  been  able  to  come  near  her. 
She  was  always  engaged.  He  saw  her  riding 
with  Hollis;  he  saw  her  driving  with  Prince- 
man;  he  saw  her  playing  tennis  with  Billy 
Westlake,  but  the  greatest  boon  he  ever  re- 
ceived was  a  nod  and  a  pleasant  word.  He  in- 
dustriously sent  her  flowers.  She  as  industri- 
ously sent  him  nice,  polite  little  notes  of  thanks. 

In  the  meantime,  alternating  with  his  marsh 
pulp  wrangles,  he  worked  like  a  Trojan  at  the 
athletic  graces  he  should  have  cultivated  in  his 
younger  days.  He  rode  every  morning;  he 
practised  every  day  at  tennis  and  croquet ;  every 
evening  he  bowled;  and  every  time  some  one 
sat  at  the  piano  and  played  dance  music  and 
132 


A   VIOLENT    FLIRT 

the  young  people  fell  into  impromptu  waltzes 
and  two-steps  on  the  porch,  he  joined  them  and 
danced  religiously  with  whomsoever  he  found 
to  hand;  usually  Miss  Hastings  or  Miss  West- 
lake. 

The  latter  ingenious  young  lady,  during  this 
while,  continued  to  adore  business,  and  with 
increasing  fervor  every  day,  and  regretted, 
quite  aloud,  that  she  had  never  paid  sufficient 
attention  to  this  absorbing  amusement,  out  of 
which  all  the  men,  that  is,  those  who  were 
really  strong  and  purposeful,  seem  to  derive  so 
much  satisfaction!  On  the  following  Monday 
at  Bald  Hill,  when  Hollis  Creek  and  Meadow 
Brook  fraternized  together,  in  the  annual  union 
picnic,  she  found  occasion  for  the  most  direct 
tete-a-tete  of  all  anent  commercial  matters. 

Under  Bald  Hill  were  any  number  of  charm- 
ing natural  retreats,  jumbles  of  Titanically  toy- 
strewn,  clean,  bare  rocks,  screened  here  and 
there  by  tangles  of  young  scrub  oak  and  pine 
which  grew  apparently  on  bare  stone  surfaces 
133 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

and  out  of  infinitesimal  chinks  and  crannies,  in 
utter  defiance  of  all  natural  law.  Go  where  you 
would  on  that  day,  there  were  couples  in  each 
of  the  rock  shelters;  young  couples,  engaged  in 
that  fascinating  pastime  of  finding  out  all  they 
could  about  each  other,  and  wondering  about 
each  other,  and  revealing  themselves  to  each 
other  as  much  as  they  cared  to  do,  and  flirting; 
oh,  in  a  perfectly  respectable  sort  of  a  way,  you 
know;  legitimate  and  commendable  flirting; 
the  sort  of  flirting  which  is  only  experimental 
and  necessary,  and  which  may  cease  at  any  mo- 
ment to  become  mere  airy  trifling,  and  turn 
into  something  intensely  and  desperately  seri- 
ous, having  a  vital  bearing  upon  the  entire 
future  lives  of  people;  and  there  were  deeply 
solemn  moments,  in  spite  of  all  the  surface  hi- 
larity and  gaiety,  in  many  of  these  little  out  of 
way  nooks  kindly  provided  by  beneficent  na- 
ture for  this  identical  purpose. 

In  one  of  these  nooks,  a  curious  sort  of 
doll's  amphitheatre,  partly  screened  by  dwarf 
134 


A   VIOLENT   FLIRT 

cedars,  were  Miss  Westlake  and  Mr.  Turner, 
and  Sam  could  not  tell  you  to  this  day  how  she 
had  roped  him  out  of  the  herd,  and  isolated 
him,  and  brought  him  there. 

"Business  is  just  perfectly  fascinating,"  she 
was  saying.  "I've  been  talking  a  lot  to  papa 
about  it  here  lately.  He  thinks  a  great  deal  of 
you,  by  the  way." 

"He  does,"  Sam  grunted  in  non-committal 
acknowledgment,  with  the  sharp  reflection  that 
he  had  better  look  out  for  himself  if  that  were 
the  case,  since  the  most  of  Westlake's  old 
friends  were  bankrupt,  he  being  the  best  busi- 
ness man  of  them  all. 

"Yes ;  he  says  you  have  an  excellent  business 
proposition,  too,  in  your  new  Marsh  Pulp  Com- 
pany." She  said  marsh  pulp  without  an  in- 
stant's hesitation. 

"I  think  it's  good  myself,"  agreed  Sam; 
"that  is,  if  I  can  keep  hold  of  it."  Inwardly  he 
added,  "And  if  I  can  keep  old  Westlake's 
clutches  off." 

135 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

She  laughed  lightly. 

"Papa  mentioned  that  very  thing,"  she  in- 
formed him.  "I  don't  think  I  quite  understand 
what  control  of  stock  means,  although  I've  had 
papa  explain  it  to  me.  I  gather  this  much,  how- 
ever, that  it  is  something  you  want  very  much, 
but  can  scarcely  get  without  some  large  stock- 
holder voting  his  stock  with  you." 

Sam  inspected  her  narrowly. 

"You  seem  to  have  a  pretty  good  idea  of  the 
thing  after  all,"  he  admitted,  wondering  how 
much  she  really  knew  and  understood.  "But 
maybe  your  father  wouldn't  like  your  repeating 
to  me  what  you  accidentally  learned  from  him 
in  conversation.  Business  men  are  usually 
pretty  particular  about  that." 

"Oh,  he  wouldn't  mind  at  all,"  she  said 
airily.  "I'm  having  him  explain  a  lot  of  things 
to  me,  because  he's  making  separate  invest- 
ments for  Billy  and  me.  All  his  new  enterprises 
are  for  us,  and  in  the  last  two  or  three  years 
he's  turned  over  lots  of  stock  to  us  in  our  own 
136 


A   VIOLENT    FLIRT 

names.  But  I've  never  done  any  actual  voting 
on  it.  I've  only  given  proxies.  I  sign  a  little 
blank,  you  know,  that  papa  fills  out  for  me  and 
shows  me  where  to  put  my  name  and  mails  to 
somebody  or  other,  or  else  takes  it  and  votes 
it  himself;  but  I'd  rather  vote  it  my  own  self. 
I  should  think  it  would  be  ever  so  much  fun. 
I'm  trying  to  find  out  about  how  they  do  such 
things,  and  I'd  be  very  glad  to  have  you  tell  me 
all  you  can  about  it.  It's  just  perfectly  fasci- 
nating." 

"Yes,  it  is,"  Sam  admitted.  "So  you  think 
you  may  eventually  own  some  stock  in  the 
Marsh  Pulp  Company?"  and  he  became  quite 
interested. 

"If  papa  takes  any  I'm  quite  sure  I  shall," 
she  returned ;  "and  I  think  he  will,  from  what 
he  said.  He  seems  to  be  so  enthusiastic  about 
it  that  I'm  going  to  ask  him  for  this  stock,  and 
let  Billy  have  the  next  that  he  buys.  I  hope  he 
does  take  a  good  lot  of  it.  Isn't  this  the  dearest 
place  imaginable?"  and  with  charming  naivete 

137 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

she  looked  about  the  tiny  amphitheatre-like 
circle,  admiring  the  projecting  stones  which 
formed  natural  seats,  and  the  broad  shelving 
of  slippery  rock  which  led  up  to  it. 

"Yes,  it  is,"  said  Sam  with  considerable 
thought  fulness,  and  once  more  inspected  Miss 
Westlake  critically. 

There  was  no  question  that  she  would  be  as 
stout  as  her  mother  and  her  father  when  she 
reached  their  age.  However,  personal  attrac- 
tiveness is  an  essence  and  can  not  be  weighed 
by  the  pound.  Sam  was  bound  to  admit,  after 
thoughtful  judgment,  that  Miss  Westlake 
might  be  personally  attractive  to  a  great  many 
people,  but  really  there  hadn't  seemed  to  be 
anything  flowing  from  him  to  her  or  from  her 
to  him,  even  when  he  had  held  tightly  to  her 
hand  to  help  her  up  the  steep  slope  of  the  rock 
floor. 

"Yes,  it  is  a  charming  place,"  he  once  more 
admitted.  "Looks  almost  as  if  this  little  semi- 
circle had  been  built  out  of  these  loose  rocks 
138 


A    VIOLENT    FLIRT 

by  design.  Of  course,  your  father  wouldn't 
take  the  original  stock  in  your  name." 

"Oh,  no,  I  don't  suppose  so,"  she  said.  "He 
never  does.  He  takes  out  the  stock  himself, 
and  then  transfers  it  to  us." 

"Of  course,"  Sam  agreed;  "and  naturally 
he'd  hold  it  long  enough  to  vote  at  the  original 
stock-holders'  meeting." 

"I  couldn't  say  about  that,"  she  laughed. 
"That's  going  beyond  my  business  depth  just 
yet,  but  I'm  going  to  learn  all  about  such 
things,"  and  she  looked  across  at  him  with  ap- 
parent shy  confidence  that  he  would  take  pleas- 
ure in  teaching  her. 

"Hoo-hoo-oo-oo-00-oo !"  came  a  sudden  call 
from  down  in  the  road,  and,  turning,  they  saw 
Miss  Hastings  and  Billy  Westlake,  who  both 
waved  their  hands  at  the  amphitheatre  couple 
and  came  scrambling  up  the  rocks. 

"Mr.  Princeman  and  Mr.  Tilloughby  are 
looking  for  you  everywhere,  Hallie,"  said  Miss 
Hastings  to  Miss  .Westlake.  "You  know  you 
139 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

promised  to  make  that  famous  salad  dressing 
of  yours.  Luncheon  is  nearly  ready,  all  but 
that,  and  they're  waiting  for  you  over  at  the 
glade.  My,  what  a  dear  little  place  this  is! 
How  did  you  ever  find  it  ?"  Miss  Hastings  was 
now  quite  conspicuously  panting  and  fanning 
herself.  "I'm  so  tired  climbing  those  rocks," 
she  went  on.  "I  shall  simply  have  to  sit  down 
and  rest  a  bit.  Billy  will  take  you  over,  Hallie, 
and  Mr.  Turner  will  bring  me  by  and  by,  I  am 
sure." 

Mr.  Turner  stated  that  he  would  do  so  with 
pleasure.  Miss  Westlake  surveyed  her  dearest 
friend  more  in  anger  than  in  sorrow.  It  was 
such  a  brazen  trick,  and  she  gazed  from  her 
brother  to  Mr.  Turner  in  sheer  wonder  that 
they  were  not  startled  into  betrayal  of  how 
shocked  they  were.  Whatever  strong  emotions 
they  might  have  had  upon  that  subject  were 
utterly  without  reflection  upon  the  outside, 
however,  for  Billy  Westlake  and  Sam  Turner 
were  eying  each  other  solely  with  a  vacuous 
140 


A   VIOLENT   FLIRT 

mutual  wish  of  saying  something  decently  po- 
lite and  human.  Mr.  Turner  made  a  desperate 
stab. 

"I  hope  you're  in  good  form  for  the  bowling 
tournament  to-night,"  he  observed  with  self- 
urged  anxiety.  "Hollis  Creek  mustn't  win,  you 
know." 

"I'm  as  near  fit  as  usual,"  said  Billy;  "but 
Princeman  is  the  chap  who's  going  to  carry  off 
the  honors  for  Meadow  Brook.  Bowled  an 
average  last  night  of  two  forty-five.  I'm  sorry 
you  couldn't  make  the  team." 

"I  should  have  started  fifteen  years  ago  to 
do  that,"  said  Sam  with  a  wry  smile.  "I  think 
I  would  get  along  all  right,  though,  if  they 
didn't  have  those  grooves  at  the  side  of  the 
alleys." 

Billy  Westlake  looked  at  him  gravely.  Since 
Sam  did  not  smile,  this  could  not  be  a  joke. 

"But   they   are    absolutely    necessary,    you 
know,"  he  protested,  as  he  took  his  sister's  arm 
and  helped  her  down  the  slope. 
141 


Miss  Westlake  went  away  entirely  out  of 
patience  with  the  two  men,  and  very  much  to 
Billy's  surprise  gave  him  her  revised  estimate 
of  that  Hastings  girl.  Miss  Hastings,  however, 
was  in  a  far  different  frame  of  mind.  She  was 
an  exclamation  point  of  admiration  about  an 
endless  variety  of  things;  about  the  dear  little 
amphitheatre,  about  how  well  her  friend  Miss 
Westlake  was  looking  and  how  successful 
Hallie  had  been  this  summer  in  reducing,  and 
how  much  Mr.  Turner  was  improving  in  his 
tennis  and  croquet  and  riding  and  bowling  and 
everything.  "And,  Mr.  Turner,  what  is  pulp? 
And  do  they  actually  make  paper  out  of  it?" 
she  wound  up. 

Very  gravely  Mr.  Turner  informed  her  on 
the  process  of  paper  making,  and  she  was  a 
chorus  of  little  vivacious  ohs  and  ahs  all  the 
way  through.  She  sat  on  the  side  of  the 
stone  circle  from  which  she  could  look  down 
the  road,  and  she  chattered  on  and  on  and  on, 
and  still  on,  until  something  she  saw  below 
142 


A   VIOLENT   FLIRT 

warned  her  that  she  was  staying  an  uncon- 
scionable length  of  time,  so  she  rose  and  told 
Mr.  Turner  they  must  really  go,  and  held  out 
her  hand  to  be  helped  down  the  slope.  That 
was  really  a  very  slippery  rock,  and  it  was 
probably  no  fault  of  Miss  Hastings  that  her 
feet  slipped  and  that  she  had  to  throw  herself 
squarely  into  Mr.  Turner's  embrace,  and  even 
throw  her  arm  up  over  his  shoulder  to  save 
herself.  It  was  a  staggery  place,  even  for  a 
sturdily  muscled  young  man  like  Mr.  Turner 
to  keep  his  footing,  and  with  that  fair  burden 
upon  him  he  had  to  stand  some  little  time 
poised  there  to  retain  his  balance.  Then,  very 
gently  and  carefully,  he  turned  straight  about, 
lifting  Miss  Hastings  entirely  from  her  feet 
and  setting  her  gravely  down  on  the  safe 
ledge  below  the  sloping  rock;  but  before  he  had 
even  had  time  to  let  go  of  her  he  glanced  down 
into  the  road,  toward  which  the  turn  had  faced 
him,  and  saw  there,  looking  up  aghast  at  the 
tableau,  Mr.  Princeman  and  Miss  Stevens ! 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

The  sharp  and  instantly  suppressed  laugh  of 
Princeman  came  floating  up  to  them,  but  Miss 
Stevens  turned  squarely  about  in  the  direction 
of  the  glade,  and  being  instantly  joined  by 
Princeman,  they  walked  quietly  away. 

Mr.  Turner  suddenly  found  himself  perspir- 
ing profusely,  and  was  compelled  to  mop  his 
brow,  but  Miss  Hastings  disdained  to  give  any 
sign  that  anything  unusual  whatsoever  had 
happened,  except  by  walking  with  a  limp,  albeit 
a  very  slight  one,  as  she  returned  to  the  glade. 
That  limp  comforted  Mr.  Turner  somewhat, 
and,  spying  Miss  Stevens  in  a  little  group  near 
the  tables,  he  was  very  careful  to  parade  Miss 
Hastings  straight  over  there  and  place  her  limp 
on  display.  Miss  Stevens,  however,  walked 
away ;  no  mere  limp  could  deceive  her ! 

Well,  if  she  wanted  to  be  miffed  at  a  little 
accident  like  that,  and  read  things  falsely,  and 
think  the  worst  of  people,  she  might ;  that  was 
all  Sam  had  to  say  about  it !  but  what  he  had 
to  say  about  it  did  not  comfort  him.  He  rather 
144 


A   VIOLENT    FLIRT 

savagely  "shook"  Miss  Hastings  at  his  first 
opportunity,  and  Vivian's  dearest  friend,  who 
had  been  hovering  in  the  offing,  saw  him  do  it, 
which  was  a  great  satisfaction  to  her.  Later 
she  seized  upon  him,  although  he  had  savagely 
sworn  to  stick  to  the  men,  and  by  some  incom- 
prehensible process  Sam  found  himself  once 
more  tete-a-tete  with  Miss  Westlake,  just  over 
at  the  edge  of  the  glade  where  the  sumac  grew. 
She  made  him  gather  a  lot  of  the  leaves  for  her, 
and  showed  him  how  they  used  to  weave  clover 
wreaths  when  she  was  a  little  girl,  and  wove 
one  for  him  of  sumac,  and  gaily  crowned  him 
with  it;  and  just  as  she  was  putting  the  fool 
thing  on  his  head  he  glanced  up,  and  there 
Princeman,  laughing,  was  just  passing  them  a 
little  ways  off,  in  company  with  Miss  Josephine 
Stevens ! 


145 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  VALUE  OF  A  PIANOLA  TRAINING 

ON  that  very  same  evening  Hollis  Creek 
came  over  to  the  bowling  tournament, 
and  Miss  Stevens,  arriving  with  young  Hollis, 
promptly  lost  that  per  fervid  young  man,  who 
had  become  somewhat  of  a  nuisance  in  his  sen- 
timental insistence.  Mr.  Turner,  watching  her 
from  afar,  saw  her  desert  the  calfly  smitten 
one,  and  immediately  dashed  for  the  breach. 
He  had  watched  from  too  great  a  distance, 
however,  for  Billy  Westlake  gobbled  up  Miss 
Josephine  before  Sam  could  get  there,  and 
started  with  her  for  that  inevitable  stroll  among 
the  brookside  paths  which  always  preceded  a 
bowling  tournament.  While  he  stood  non- 
plussed, looking  after  them,  Miss  Hastings 
glided  to  his  side  in  a  matter  of  course  way. 
146 


A    PIANOLA   TRAINING 

"Isn't  it  a  perfectly  charming  evening?"  she 
wanted  to  know. 

"It  is  a  regular  dear  of  an  evening,"  admitted 
Sam  savagely. 

In  his  single  thoughtedness  he  was  scram- 
bling wildly  about  within  the  interior  of  his 
skull  for  a  pretext  to  get  rid  of  Miss  Hastings, 
but  it  suddenly  occurred  to  him  that  now  he 
had  a  legitimate  excuse  for  following  the  re- 
ceding couple,  and  promptly  upon  the  birth  of 
this  idea,  he  pulled  in  that  direction  and  Miss 
Hastings  came  right  along,  though  a  trifle  si- 
lently. With  all  her  vivacious  chattering,  she 
was  not  without  shrewdness,  and  with  no  trou- 
ble whatever  she  divined  precisely  why  Sam 
chose  the  path  he  did,  and  why  he  seemed  in 
such  almost  blundering  haste.  They  zvere  a  lit- 
tle late,  it  was  true,  for  just  as  they  started, 
Billy  and  Miss  Stevens  turned  aside  and  out  of 
sight  into  the  shadiest  and  narrowest  and  most 
involved  of  the  shrubbery-lined  paths,  the  one 
which  circled  about  the  little  concealed  summer- 
147 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

house  with  a  dove-cote  on  top,  which  was  com- 
monly dubbed  "the  cooing  place."  Following 
down  this  path  the  rear  couple  suddenly  came 
upon  a  tableau  which  made  them  pause  ab- 
ruptly. Billy  Westlake,  upon  the  steps  of  the 
summer-house,  was  upon  his  knees,  there  in  the 
swiftly  blackening  dusk,  before  the  appalled 
Miss  Stevens ;  actually  upon  his  knees !  Silently 
the  two  watchers  stole  away,  but  when  they 
were  out  of  earshot  Miss  Hastings  tittered. 
Sam,  though  the  moment  was  a  serious  one  for 
him,  was  also  compelled  to  grin. 

"I  didn't  know  they  did  it  that  way  any 
more,"  he  confessed. 

"They  don't,"  Miss  Hastings  informed  him ; 
"that  is,  unless  they  are  very,  very  young,  or 
very,  very  old." 

"Apparently  you've  had  experience,"  ob- 
served Sam. 

"Yes,"  she  admitted  a  little  bitterly.  "I  think 
I've  had  rather  more  than  my  share;  but  all 
with  ineligibles." 

148 


A    PIANOLA    TRAINING 

Sam  felt  a  trace  of  pity  for  Miss  Hastings, 
who  was  of  polite  family,  but  poor,  and  a 
guest  of  the  Westlakes,  but  he  scarcely  knew 
how  to  express  it,  and  felt  that  it  was  not  quite 
safe  anyhow,  so  he  remained  discreetly  silent. 

By  mutual,  though  unspoken  impulse,  they 
stopped  under  the  shade  of  a  big  tree  up  on  the 
lawn,  and  waited  for  the  couple  who  had  been 
found  in  the  delicate  situation  either  to  reap- 
pear on  the  way  back  to  the  house,  or  to  emerge 
at  the  other  end  of  the  path  on  the  way  to  the 
bowling  shed.  It  was  scarcely  three  minutes 
when  they  reappeared  on  the  way  back  to  the 
house,  and  both  watchers  felt  an  instant  thrill 
of  relief,  for  the  two  were  by  no  means  lover- 
like  in  their  attitudes.  Billy  had  hold  of  Miss 
Josephine's  arm  and  was  helping  her  up  the 
slope,  but  their  shoulders  were  not  touching  in 
the  process,  nor  were  arms  clasped  closely 
against  sides.  They  passed  by  the  big  tree  un- 
seeing, then,  as  they  neared  the  house,  without 
a  word,  they  parted.  Miss  Stevens  proceeded 
149 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

toward  tHe  porch,  and  stopped  to  take  a  hand- 
kerchief from  her  sleeve  and  pass  it  carefully 
and  lightly  over  her  face.  Billy  Westlake 
strode  off  a  little  way  toward  the  bowling  shed, 
stopped  and  lit  a  cigarette,  took  two  or  three 
puffs,  started  on,  stopped  again,  then  threw  the 
cigarette  to  the  ground  with  quite  unnecessary 
vigor,  and  stamped  on  it.  Miss  Hastings, 
without  adieus  of  any  sort,  glided  swiftly  away 
in  the  direction  of  Billy,  and  then  a  dim  glim- 
mer of  understanding  came  to  Sam  Turner  that 
only  Miss  Stevens  had  stood  in  the  way  of  Miss 
Hastings'  capture  of  Billy  Westlake.  He 
wasted  no  time  over  this  thought,  however,  but 
strode  very  swiftly  and  determinedly  up  to 
Miss  Josephine. 

"I'm  glad  to  find  you  alone,"  he  said;  "I 
want  to  make  an  explanation." 

"Don't  bother  about  it,"  she  told  him  frig- 
idly. "You  owe  me  no  explanations  whatso- 
ever, Mr.  Turner." 

"I'm  going  to  make  them  anyhow,"  he  de- 
150 


A   PIANOLA   TRAINING 

clared.  "You  saw  me  twice  this  afternoon  in 
utterly  asinine  situations." 

"I  remember  of  no  such  situations,"  she 
stated  still  frigidly,  and  started  to  move  on 
toward  the  house. 

"But  wait  a  minute,"  said  Sam,  catching  her 
by  the  arm  and  detaining  her.  "You  did  see  me 
in  silly  situations,  and  I  want  you  to  know  the 
facts  about  them." 

"I'm  not  at  all  interested,"  she  informed  him, 
now  with  absolute  north  pole  iciness,  and 
started  to  move  away  again. 

He  held  her  more  tightly. 

"The  first  time,"  he  went  on,  "was  when 
Miss  Hastings  slipped  on  the  rocks  and  I  had 
to  catch  her  to  keep  her  from  falling." 

"Will  you  kindly  let  me  go,  Mr.  Turner?" 
demanded  Miss  Josephine. 

"No,  I  will  not!"  he  replied,  and  pulled  her 
about  a  trifle  so  that  she  was  compelled  to  face 
him.  "I  don't  choose  to  have  anybody,  least  of 
all  you,  think  wrongly  of  me." 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

"Mr.  Turner,  I  do  not  choose  to  be  detained 
against  my  will,"  declared  Miss  Josephine. 

"Mr.  Turner,"  boomed  a  deep-timbered 
voice  right  behind  them,  "the  lady  has  re- 
quested you  to  let  her  go.  I  should  advise  you 
to  do  so." 

Mr.  Turner  was  attempting  to  frame  up  a 
reasonable  answer  to  this  demand  when  Miss 
Josephine  prevented  him  from  doing  so. 

"Mr.  Princeman,"  said  she  to  the  interrupt- 
ing gallant,  "I  thank  you  for  your  interference 
on  my  behalf,  but  I  am  quite  capable  of  pro- 
tecting myself,"  and  leaving  the  two  stunned 
gentlemen  together,  she  once  more  took  her 
handkerchief  from  her  sleeve  and  walked 
swiftly  up  to  the  porch,  brushing  the  handker- 
chief lightly  over  her  face  again. 

"Well,  I'll  be  damned!"  said  Princeman, 
looking  after  her  in  more  or  less  bewilderment. 

"So  will  I,"  said  Sam.  "Have  you  a  cigar- 
ette about  you?" 

Princeman  gave  him  one  and  they  toolc  a 


A    PIANOLA    TRAINING 

light  from  the  same  match,  then,  neither  one 
of  them  caring  to  discuss  any  subject  what- 
ever at  that  particular  moment,  they  separated, 
and  Sam  hunted  a  lonely  corner.  He  wanted  to 
be  alone  and  gloom.  Confound  bowling,  any- 
how! It  was  a  dull  and  uninteresting  game. 
He  cared  less  for  it  as  time  went  on,  he  found ; 
less  to-night  than  ever.  He  crept  away  into  the 
dim  and  deserted  parlor  and  sat  down  at  the 
piano,  the  only  friend  in  which  he  cared  to  con- 
fide just  then.  He  played,  with  a  queer  linger- 
ing touch  which  had  something  of  hesitation  in 
it,  and  which  reduced  all  music  to  a  succession 
of  soft  chords,  The  Maid  of  Dundee  and  Annie 
Laurie,  The  Banks  of  Banna  and  The  Last 
Rose  of  Summer,  then  one  of  the  simpler  noc- 
turnes of  Chopin,  and,  following  these,  a 
quaint,  slow  melody  which  was  like  all  of  the 
others  and  yet  like  none. 

"Bravo!"  exclaimed  a  gentle  voice  in  the 
doorway,  and  he  turned,  startled,  to  see  Miss 
Stevens  standing  there.    She  did  not  explain 
153 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

why  she  had  relented,  but  came  directly  into 
the  room  and  stood  at  the  end  of  the  piano. 
He  reached  up  and  shook  hands  with  her  quite 
naturally,  and  just  as  naturally  and  simply  she 
let  her  hand  lie  in  his  for  an  instant.  How  soft 
and  warm  her  palm  was,  and  how  grateful  the 
touch  of  it! 

"What  a  pleasant  surprise!"  she  said.  "I 
didn't  know  you  played." 

"I  don't,"  he  confessed,  smiling.  "If  you 
had  stopped  to  listen  you  would  have  known. 
You  ought  to  hear  my  kid  brother  play  though. 
He's  a  corker." 

"But  I  did  listen,"  she  insisted,  ignoring  the 
reference  to  his  "kid  brother."  "I  stood  there  a 
long  time  and  I  thought  it  beautiful.  What  was 
that  last  selection  ?" 

He  flushed  guiltily. 

"It  was — oh,  just  a  little  thing  I  sort  of  put 
together  myself,"  he  told  her. 

"How  delightful!  And  so  you  compose, 
too?" 

154 


A    PIANOLA   TRAINING 

"Not  at  all,"  he  hastily  assured  her.  "This 
is  the  only  thing,  and  it  seemed  to  come  just 
sort  of  naturally  to  me  from  time  to  time.  I 
don't  suppose  it's  finished  yet,  because  I  never 
play  it  exactly  as  I  did  before.  I  always  seem 
to  add  a  little  bit  to  it.  I  do  wish  that  I  had  had 
time  to  know  more  of  music.  What  little  I  play 
I  learned  from  a  pianola." 

"A  what  ?"  she  gasped. 

He  laughed  in  a  half -embarrassed  way. 

"A  pianola,"  he  repeated.  "You  see  I've  al- 
ways been  hungry  for  music,  and  while  my  kid 
brother  was  still  in  college  I  began  to  be  able 
to  afford  things,  and  one  of  the  first  luxuries 
was  a  pianola.  You  know  the  machine  has  a 
little  lever  which  throws  the  keys  in  or  out 
of  engagement,  so  that  you  can  play  it  as  a 
regular  piano  if  you  wish,  and  if  you  leave  the 
keys  engaged  while  you  are  playing  the  rolls, 
they  work  up  and  down ;  so  by  watching  these 
I  gradually  learned  to  pick  out  my  favorite 
tunes  by  hand.  I  couldn't  play  them  so  well  by 
155 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

myself  as  the  rolls  played  them,  but  somehow 
or  other  they  gave  me  more  satisfaction." 

Miss  Stevens  did  not  laugh.  In  some  inde- 
finable way  all  this  made  a  difference  in  Sam 
Turner — a  considerable  difference — and  she 
felt  quite  justified  in  having  deliberately  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  she  had  been  "mean"  to 
him ;  in  having  deliberately  slipped  away  from 
the  others  as  they  were  all  going  over  to  the 
bowling  alleys;  in  having  come  back  deliber- 
ately to  find  him. 

"Your  favorite  tunes,"  she  repeated  mus- 
ingly. "What  was  the  first  one,  I  wonder  ?  One 
of  those  that  you  have  just  been  playing?" 

"The  first  one?"  he  returned  with  a  smile. 
"No,  it  was  a  sort  of  rag-time  jingle.  I  thought 
it  very  pretty  then,  but  I  played  it  over  the 
other  day,  the  first  time  in  years,  and  I  didn't 
seem  to  like  it  at  all.  In  fact,  I  wonder  how  I 
ever  did  like  it." 

Rag-time !  And  now,  left  entirely  to  his  own 
devices  and  for  his  own  pleasure,  he  was 
156 


Sam  played  again  the  plaintive  little  air 


A    PIANOLA   TRAINING 

playing  Chopin !  Yes,  it  made  quite  a  difference 
in  Sam  Turner.  She  was  glad  that  she  had  de- 
cided to  wear  his  roses,  glad  even  that  he  rec- 
ognized them.  At  her  solicitation  Sam  played 
again  the  plaintive  little  air  of  his  own  compo- 
sition— and  played  it  much  better  than  ever  he 
had  played  it  before.  Then  they  walked  out  on 
the  porch  and  strolled  down  toward  the  bowl- 
ing shed.  Half  way  there  was  a  little  side  path, 
leading  off  through  an  arbor  into  a  shady  way 
which  crossed  the  brook  on  a  little  rustic 
bridge,  which  wound  about  between  flower- 
beds and  shrubbery  and  back  by  another  little 
bridge,  and  which  lengthened  the  way  to  the 
bowling  shed  by  about  four  times  the  normal 
distance — and  they  took  that  path;  and  when 
they  reached  the  bowling  alley  they  were  not 
quite  ready  to  go  in. 

There  seemed  no  reasonable  excuse  for  stay- 
ing out  longer,  however,  for  the  bowling  had 
already  started,  and,  moreover,  young  Til- 
loughby  happened  to  come  to  the  door  and 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

spied  them.  Princeman  was  just  getting  up  to 
bowl  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  Meadow 
Brook,  and  within  one  minute  later  Miss  Ste- 
vens was  watching  the  handsome  young  paper 
manufacturer  with  absorbed  interest.  He  was 
a  fine  picture  of  athletic  manhood  as  he  stood 
up,  weighing  the  ball,  and  a  splendid  picture  of 
masculine  action  as  he  rushed  forward  to  de- 
liver it.  Sam  had  to  acknowledge  that  him- 
self, and  out  of  fairness  he  even  had  to  join 
in  the  mad  applause  when  Princeman  made 
strike  after  strike.  They  had  Princeman  up 
again  in  the  last  frame,  and  it  was  a  ticklish 
moment.  The  Hollis  Creek  team  was  fifty 
points  ahead.  Dramatic  unities,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, demanded  that  Princeman,  by  a 
tremendous  exercise  of  coolness  and  skill,  over- 
come that  lead  by  his  own  personal  efforts,  and 
he  did,  winning  the  tournament  for  Meadow 
Brook  with  a  breathless  few  points  to  spare. 

But  did  Sam  Turner  care  that  Princeman 
was  the  hero  of  the  hour?    More  power  to 
158 


A    PIANOLA   TRAINING 

Princeman,  for  from  the  bevy  of  flushed  and 
eager  girls  who  flocked  about  the  Adonis-like 
victor,  Miss  Josephine  Stevens  was  absent.  She 
was  there,  with  him,  in  Paradise !  Incidentally 
Sam  made  an  engagement  to  drive  with  her  in 
the  morning,  and  when,  at  the  close  of  that  de- 
lightful evening,  the  carryall  carried  her  away, 
she  beamed  upon  him;  gave  him  two  or  three 
beams  in  fact,  and  said  good-by  personally  and 
waved  her  hand  to  him  personally ;  nobody  else 
was  there  in  all  that  crowd  but  just  they  two ! 


159 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   WESTLAKES   DECIDE  TO  INVEST 

MISS  HASTINGS  did  not  exactly  snub 
Sam  in  the  morning,  but  she  was  sur- 
prisingly indifferent  to  him  after  all  her  previ- 
ous cordiality,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  for- 
get the  early  morning  constitutional  she  was  to 
have  taken  with  him;  instead  she  passed  him 
coolly  by  on  the  porch  right  after  an  extremely 
early  breakfast,  and  sauntered  away  down  lov- 
ers' lane,  arm  in  arm  with  Billy  Westlake,  who 
was  already  looking  very  much  comforted. 
Sam,  who  had  been  dreading  that  walk,  re- 
leased it  with  a  sigh  of  intense  satisfaction, 
planning  that  in  the  interim  until  time  for  his 
drive,  he  would  improve  his  tennis  a  bit  with 
Miss  Westlake.  He  was  just  hunting  her  up 
when  he  met  Bob  Tilloughby,  who  invited  him 
1 60 


THE    WESTLAKES    INVEST 

to  join  a  riding  party  from  both  houses  for  a 
trip  over  to  Sunset  Rock. 

"Sorry,"  said  Sam  with  secret  satisfaction, 
"but  I've  an  engagement  over  at  Hollis  Creek 
at  ten  o'clock,"  and  Tilloughby  carried  that  in- 
formation back  to  Miss  Westlake,  who  had 
sent  him. 

An  engagement  at  Hollis  Creek  at  ten 
o'clock,  eh?  Well,  Miss  Westlake  knew  who 
that  meant;  none  other  than  her  dear  friend, 
Josephine  Stevens !  Being  a  young  lady  of  con- 
siderable directness,  she  went  immediately  to 
her  father. 

"Have  you  definitely  made  up  your  mind, 
pop,  to  take  stock  in  Mr.  Turner's  company?" 
she  asked,  sitting  down  by  that  placid  gentle- 
man. 

Without  removing  his  interlocked  hands 
from  their  comfortable  resting-place  in  plain 
sight,  he  slowly  twirled  his  thumbs  some  three 
times,  and  then  stopped. 

"Yes,  I  think  I  shall,"  he  said. 
161 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

"About  how  much  ?"  Miss  Westlake  wanted 
to  know. 

"Oh,  about  twenty-five  thousand." 

"Who's  to  get  it?" 

"Why,  I  thought  I'd  divide  it  between  Billy 
and  you." 

Miss  Westlake  put  her  hand  on  her  fa- 
ther's arm. 

"Say,  pop,  give  it  to  me,  please,"  she  plead- 
ed. "Billy  can  take  the  next  stock  you  buy, 
or  I'll  let  him  have  some  of  my  other  in  ex- 
change." 

Mr.  Westlake  surveyed  his  daughter  out  of 
a  pair  of  fish-gray  eyes  without  turning  his 
head. 

"You  seem  to  be  especially  interested  in  this 
stock.  You  asked  about  it  yesterday  and  Sun- 
day and  one  day  last  week." 

"Yes,  I  am,"  she  admitted.  "It's  a  really 
first-class  business  investment,  isn't  it  ?" 

"Yes,  I  think  it  is,"  replied  Westlake;  "as 
good  as  any  stock  in  an  untried  company  can 
162 


THE  .WESTLAKES   INVEST 

be,  anyhow.  At  least  it's  an  excellent  invest- 
ment chance." 

"That's  what  I  thought,"  she  said.  "I'm 
judging,  of  course,  only  by  what  you  say,  and 
by  my  impression  of  Mr.  Turner.  It  seems  to 
me  that  almost  anything  he  goes  into  should 
be  highly  successful." 

Mr.  Westlake  slowly  whirled  his  thumbs  in 
the  other  direction,  three  separate  twirls,  and 
stopped  them. 

"Yes,"  he  agreed.  "I'm  investing  the  money 
in  just  Sam  myself,  although  the  scheme  itself 
looks  like  a  splendid  one." 

Miss  Westlake  was  silent  a  moment  while 
she  twisted  at  the  button  on  her  father's  coat 
sleeve. 

"I  don't  quite  understand  this  matter  of 
stock  control,"  she  went  on  presently.  "You've 
explained  it  to  me,  but  I  don't  seem  quite  to 
get  the  meaning  of  it." 

"Well,  it's  like  this,"  explained  Mr.  West- 
lake.  "Sam  Turner,  with  only  a  paltry  invest- 
163 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

ment,  say  about  five  thousand  dollars,  wants  to 
be  able  to  dictate  the  entire  policy  of  a  million- 
dollar  concern.  In  other  words,  he  wants  a  ma- 
jority of  stock,  which  will  let  him  come  into 
the  stock-holders'  meetings,  and  vote  into  office 
his  own  board  of  directors,  who  will  do  just 
what  he  says;  and  if  he  wanted  to  he  might 
have  them  vote  the  entire  profits  of  the  concern 
for  his  salary." 

"But,  father,  he  wouldn't  do  anything  like 
that,"  she  protested,  shocked. 

"No,  he  probably  wouldn't,"  admitted  Mr. 
Westlake,  "but  I  wouldn't  be  wise  to  let  him 
have  the  chance,  just  the  same." 

"But,  father,"  objected  Miss  Hallie,  after 
further  thought,  "it's  his  invention,  you  know, 
and  his  process,  and  if  he  doesn't  have  control 
couldn't  all  you  other  stock-holders  get  to- 
gether and  appropriate  the  profits  yourselves?" 

Mr.  Westlake  gave  his  thumbs  one  quick 
turn. 

"Yes,"  he  grudgingly  confessed.  "In  fact, 
164 


THE   WESTLAKES   INVEST 

it's  been  done,"  and  there  was  a  certain  grim 
satisfaction  at  the  corners  of  his  mouth  which 
his  daughter  could  not  interpret,  as  he  thought 
back  over  the  long  list  of  absorptions  which 
had  made  old  Bill  Westlake  the  power  that  he 
was. 

"But — but,  father,"  and  she  hesitated  a  long 
time. 

"Yes,"  he  encouraged  her. 

"Even  if  you  won't  let  him  have  enough 
stock  to  obtain  control,  if  some  one  other  per- 
son should  own  enough  of  the  stock,  couldn't 
they  put  their  stock  with  his  and  let  him  do  just 
about  as  he  liked  ?" 

"Oh,  yes,"  agreed  Mr.  Westlake  without  any 
twirling  of  his  thumbs  at  all;  "that's  been 
done,  too." 

"Would  this  twenty-five  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  stock  that  you're  buying,  pop,  if  it 
were  added  to  what  you  men  are  willing  to  let 
Mr.  Turner  have,  give  him  control?" 

Again  Mr.  Westlake  turned  his  speculative 

165 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

gray  eyes  upon  his  daughter  and  gave  her  a 
long,  careful  scrutiny,  which  she  received  with 
downcast  lashes. 

"No,"  he  replied. 

"How  much  would?" 

"Well,  fifty  thousand  would  do  it." 

"Say,  pop—" 

"Yes." 

Another  long  interval. 

"I  wish  you'd  buy  fifty  thousand  for  me  in 
place  of  twenty-five." 

"Humph,"  grunted  Mr.  Westlake,  and  after 
one  sharp  glance  at  her  he  looked  down  at  his 
big  fat  thumbs  and  twirled  them  for  a  long, 
long  time.  "Well,"  said  he,  "Sam  Turner  is  a 
fine  young  man.  I've  known  him  in  a  business 
way  for  five  or  six  years,  and  I  never  saw  a 
flaw  in  him  of  any  sort.  All  right.  You  give 
Billy  your  sugar  stock  and  I'll  buy  you  this 
fifty  thousand." 

Miss  Westlake  reached  over  and  kissed  her 
father  impulsively. 

1 66 


THE   AVESTLAKES    INVEST 

"Thanks,  pop,"  she  said.  "Now  there's  an- 
other thing  I  want  you  to  do." 

"What,  more?"  he  demanded. 

"Yes,  more,"  and  this  time  the  color  deep- 
ened in  her  cheeks.  "I  want  you  to  hunt  up 
Mr.  Turner  and  tell  him  that  you're  going  to 
take  that  much." 

Mr.  Westlake  with  a  smile  reached  up  and 
pinched  his  daughter's  cheek. 

"Very  well,  Hallie,  I'll  do  it,"  said  he. 

She  patted  him  affectionately  on  the  bald 
spot. 

"Good  for  you,"  she  said.  "Be  sure  you  see 
him  this  morning,  though,  and  before  half-past 
nine." 

"You're  particular  about  that,  eh?" 

"Yes,  it's  rather  important,"  she  admitted, 
and  blushed  furiously. 

Westlake  patted  his  daughter  on  the  shoul- 
der. 

"Hallie,"  said  He,  "if  Billy  only  had  your 
common-sense  business  instinct,  I  wouldn't  ask 
167 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

for  anything  else  in  this  world ;  but  Billy  is  a 
saphead." 

Mr.  Westlake,  thinking  that  he  understood 
the  matter  very  thoroughly,  though  in  reality 
overunderstanding  it — nice  word,  that — took  it 
upon  himself  with  considerable  seriousness 
to  hunt  up  Sam  Turner ;  but  it  was  fully  nine- 
thirty  before  he  found  that  energetic  young 
man.  Sam  was  just  going  down  the  driveway 
in  a  neat  little  trap  behind  a  team  of  spirited 
grays. 

"Wait  a  minute,  Sam,  wait  a  minute,"  hailed 
Westlake,  puffing  laboriously  across  the  closely 
cropped  lawn. 

Sam  held  up  his  horses  abruptly,  and  they 
stood  swinging  their  heads  and  champing  at 
their  bits,  while  Sam,  with  a  trace  of  a  frown, 
looked  at  his  watch. 

"What's  your  rush  ?"  asked  Westlake.   "I've 
been  hunting  for  you  everywhere.    I  want  to 
talk  about   some   important   features  of  that 
Marsh  Pulp  Company  of  yours," 
168 


THE   WESTLAKES    INVEST 

"All  right,"  said  Sam.  "I'm  open  for  con- 
versation. I'll  see  you  right  after  lunch." 

"No,  I  must  see  you  now,"  insisted  West- 
lake.  "I've — I've  got  to  decide  on  some  things 
right  this  morning.  I — I've  got  to  know  how 
to  portion  out  my  investments." 

Sam  looked  at  his  watch  and  was  genuinely 
distressed. 

"I'm  sorry,"  said  he,  "but  I  have  an  engage- 
ment over  at  Hollis  Creek  at  exactly  ten 
o'clock,  and  I've  scant  time  to  make  it." 

"Business?"  demanded  Westlake. 

"No,"  confessed  Sam  slowly. 

"Oh,  social  then.  Well,  social  engagements 
in  America  always  play  second  riddle  to  busi- 
ness ones,  and  don't  you  forget  it.  I'll  talk 
about  this  matter  this  morning  or  I  won't  talk 
about  it  at  all." 

Sam  stopped  nonplussed.  Westlake  was  an 
important  factor  in  the  prospective  Marsh 
Pulp  Company. 

"Tell  you  what  you  do,"  said  he,  after  some 
169 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

quick  thought.  "Why  can't  you  get  in  the  trap 
and  drive  over  to  Hollis  Creek  with  me?  We 
can  talk  on  the  way  and  you  can  visit  with  your 
friends  over  there  until  time  for  luncheon; 
then  I'll  bring  you  back  and  we  can  talk  on  the 
way  home,  too." 

Miss  Hallie  and  Princeman  and  young  Til- 
loughby  came  cantering  down  the  drive  and 
waved  hands  at  the  two  men. 

"All  right,"  said  Westlake  decisively,  look- 
ing after  his  daughter  and  answering  her  glance 
with  a  nod.  "Wait  until  I  get  my  hat,"  and  he 
wheeled  abruptly  away. 

Sam  fumed  and  fretted  and  jerked  his  watch 
back  and  forth  from  his  pocket,  while  Westlake 
wasted  fifteen  precious  minutes  in  waddling  up 
to  the  house  and  hunting  for  his  hat  and  re- 
turning with  it,  and  two  minutes  more  in  bun- 
gling his  awkward  way  into  the  buggy;  then 
Sam  started  the  grays  at  such  a  terrific  pace 
that,  until  they  came  to  the  steep  hill  midway 
of  the  course,  there  was  no  chance  for  conver- 
ge 


THE    WESTLAKES    INVEST 

sation.  While  the  horses  pulled  up  this  steep 
hill,  however,  Westlake  had  his  opportunity. 

"I  suppose  you  know,"  he  said,  "that  you're 
not  going  to  be  allowed  over  two  thousand 
shares  of  common  stock  for  your  patents." 

"I'm  beginning  to  give  up  the  hope  of  hav- 
ing more,"  admitted  Sam.  "However,  I'm  go- 
ing to  stick  it  out  to  the  last  ditch." 

"It  won't  be  permitted,  so  you  might  as  well 
give  up  that  idea.  How  much  stock  do  you 
think  of  buying?" 

"About  five  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  the 
preferred,"  said  Sam. 

"Which  will  give  you  fifty  bonus  shares  of 
the  common.  I  suppose  of  course  you  figure  on 
eventually  securing  control  in  some  way  or 
other." 

"Not  being  an  infant,  I  do,"  returned  Sam, 
flicking  his  whip  at  a  weed  and  gathering  his 
lines  up  quickly  as  the  mettled  horses  jumped. 

"I  don't  know  of  any  one  person  who's  go- 
ing to  buy  enough  stock  to  help  you  out  in  that 
171 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

plan;  unless  I  should  do  it  myself,"  suggested 
Westlake,  and  waited. 

Sam  surveyed  the  other  man  long  and  si- 
lently. Westlake,  as  the  largest  minority  share- 
holder, had  done  some  very  strange  things  to 
corporations  in  his  time. 

"Neither  do  I,"  said  Sam  non-committally. 

There  was  another  long  silence. 

"If  you  carry  through  this  Marsh  Pulp  Com- 
pany to  a  successful  termination,  you  will  be 
fairly  well  fixed  for  a  young  man,  won't  you?" 
the  older  man  ventured  by  and  by. 

"Well,"  hesitated  Sam,  "I'll  have  a  start 
anyhow." 

"I  should  say  you  would,"  Westlake  assured 
him,  placing  his  hands  in  his  favorite  position 
for  contemplative  discussion.  "You'll  have  a 
good  enough  start  to  enable  you  to  settle 
down." 

"Yes,"  admitted  Sam. 

"What  you  need,  my  boy,  is  a  wife,"  went 
on  Mr.  Westlake.  "No  man's  business  career  is 
172 


THE    WESTLAKES    INVEST 

properly  assured  until  he  has  a  wife  to  steady 
him  down." 

"I  believe  that,"  agreed  Sam.  "I've  come  to 
the  same  conclusion  myself,  and  to  tell  you  the 
truth  of  the  matter  I've  been  contemplating 
marriage  very  seriously  since  I've  been  down 
here." 

"Good !"  approved  Westlake.  "You're  a  fine 
boy,  Sam.  I  may  tell  you  right  now  that  I  ap- 
prove of  both  you  and  your  decision  very  heart- 
ily. I  rather  thought  there  was  something  in 
the  wind  that  way." 

"Yes,"  confessed  Sam  hesitantly.  "I  don't 
mind  admitting  that  I  have  even  gone  so  far  as 
to  pick  out  the  girl,  if  she'll  have  me." 

Mr.  Westlake  smiled. 

"I  don't  think  there  will  be  any  trouble  on 
that  score,"  said  he.  "Of  course,  Sam,  I'm  not 
going  to  force  your  confidence,  or  anything  of 
that  sort,  but — but  I  want  to  tell  you  that  I 
think  you're  all  right,"  and  he  very  solemnly 
shook  hands  with  Mr.  Turner. 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

They  had  just  reached  the  top  of  the  hill 
when  Westlake  again  returned  to  business. 

"I'm  glad  to  know  you're  going  to  settle 
down,  Sam,"  he  said.  "It  inspires  me  with 
more  confidence  in  your  affairs,  and  I  may  say 
that  I  stand  ready  to  subscribe,  in  my  daugh- 
ter's name,  for  fifty  thousand  dollars'  worth 
of  the  stock  of  your  company." 

"Well,"  said  Sam,  giving  the  matter  careful 
weight.  "It  will  be  a  good  investment  for  her." 

Before  Mr.  Westlake  had  any  time  to  reply 
to  this,  the  grays,  having  just  passed  the  sum- 
mit of  the  hill,  leaped  forward  in  obedience  to 
another  swish  of  Sam's  whip. 


174 


CHAPTER  XII 

ANOTHER   MISSED   APPOINTMENT 

THE  trio  from  Meadow  Brook,  on  their 
way  to  Sunset  Rock  galloped  up  to  the 
Hollis  Creek  porch,  and,  finding  Miss  Stevens 
there,    gaily;   demanded   that   she   accompany 
them. 

"I'm  sorry,"  said  Miss  Stevens,  who  was  al- 
ready in  driving  costume,  "but  I  have  an  en- 
gagement at  ten  o'clock,"  and  she  looked  back 
through  the  window  into  the  office,  where  the 
clock  then  stood  at  two  minutes  of  the  ap- 
pointed time;  then  she  looked  rather  impa- 
tiently down  the  driveway,  as  she  had  been  do- 
ing for  the  past  five  minutes. 

"Well,  at  least  you'll  come  back  to  the  bar 
with  us  and  have  an  ice-cream  cocktail,"  in- 
sisted Princeman,  reining  up  close  to  the  porch 
and  putting  his  hand  upon  the  rail  in  front  of 
her. 

175 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

"I  don't  see  how  I  can  refuse  that,"  said 
Miss  Stevens  with  a  smile  and  another  glance 
down  at  the  driveway,  "although  it's  really  a 
little  early  in  the  day  to  begin  drinking,"  and 
she  waited  for  them  to  dismount,  going  back 
with  them  into  the  little  ice-cream  parlor  and 
"soft  drink"  and  confectionery  dispensary 
which  had  been  facetiously  dubbed  "the  bar." 
Here  she  was  careful  to  secure  a  seat  where 
she  could  look  out  of  the  window  down  toward 
the  road,  and  also  see  the  clock. 

After  a  weary  while,  during  which  Miss 
Josephine  had  undergone  a  variety  of  emotions 
which  she  was  very  careful  not  to  mention, 
the  party  rose  from  the  discussion  of  their 
ice-cream  soda  and  the  bowling  tournament  and 
all  the  various  other  social  interests  of  the  two 
resorts,  and  made  ready  to  depart,  Miss  West- 
lake  twining  her  arm  about  the  waist  of  her 
friend  Miss  Stevens  as  they  emerged  on  the 
porch. 

"Well,  anyway,  we've  made  you  forget  your 
176 


ANOTHER  MISSED  APPOINTMENT 

engagement,"  Miss  Westlake  gaily  boasted, 
"for  you  said  it  was  to  be  at  ten,  and  now  it's 
ten-thirty." 

"Yes,  I  noticed  the  time,"  admitted  Miss  Ste- 
vens, rather  grudgingly. 

"I'm  sorry  we  dragged  you  away,"  com- 
miserated Miss  Westlake  with  a  swift  change 
of  tone.  "Probably  the  party  of  the  second  part 
didn't  know  where  to  find  you." 

"No,  it  couldn't  be  anything  like  that,"  de- 
cided Miss  Josephine  after  a  thoughtful  pause. 
"Did  you  see  anything  of  Mr.  Turner  this 
morning?"  she  asked  with  sudden  resolve. 

"Mr.  Turner,"  repeated  Miss  Westlake  in 
well-feigned  surprise.  "Why,  yes,  I  know  papa 
said  early  this  morning  that  he  was  going  to 
have  a  business  talk  with  Mr.  Turner,  and  as 
we  left  Meadow  Brook  papa  was  just  going 
after  his  hat  to  take  a  drive  with  him." 

"I  wonder  if  it  would  be  an  imposition  to 
ask  you  to  wait  about  five  minutes  longer,"  in- 
quired Miss  Stevens  with  a  languidness  which 
177 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

did  not  deceive.  "I  think  I  can  change  to  my 
riding-habit  almost  within  that  time." 

"We'll  be  delighted  to  wait,"  asserted  Miss 
Westlake  eagerly,  herself  looking  apprehen- 
sively down  the  driveway;  "won't  we,  boys?" 

"Sure ;  what  is  it  ?"  returned  Princeman. 

"Josephine  says  that  if  we'll  wait  five  min- 
utes longer  she'll  go  with  us." 

"We'll  wait  an  hour  if  need  be,"  declared 
Princeman  gallantly. 

"It  won't  need  be,"  said  Miss  Stevens  lightly, 
and  hurrying  into  the  office  she  ordered  the 
clerk  to  send  for  her  saddle-horse. 

For  ten  interminable  minutes  Miss  Westlake 
never  took  her  eyes  from  the  road,  at  the  end 
of  which  time  Miss  Stevens  returned,  hatted 
and  habited  and  booted  and  whipped. 

The  Hollis  Creek  young  lady  was  rather 
grim  as  she  rode  down  the  graveled  approach 
beside  Miss  Westlake,  and  both  the  girls  cast 
furtive  glances  behind  them  as  they  turned 
away  from  the  Meadow  Brook  road.  When 
178 


ANOTHER  MISSED  APPOINTMENT  ,. 

they  were  safely  out  of  sight  around  the  next 
bend,  Miss  Westlake  laughed. 

"Mr.  Turner  is  such  a  funny  person,"  said 
she.  "He's  liable  at  any  moment  to  forget  all 
about  everything  and  everybody  if  somebody 
mentions  business  to  him.  If  he  ever  takes  time 
to  get  married  he'll  make  it  a  luncheon  hour 
appointment." 

Even  Miss  Josephine  laughed. 

"And  even  then,"  she  added,  by  way  of  elab- 
oration, "the  bride  is  likely  to  be  left  waiting 
at  the  church."  There  was  a  certain  snap  and 
crackle  to  whatever  Miss  Stevens  said  just  now, 
however,  which  indicated  a  perturbed  and  even 
an  angry  state  of  mind. 

Ten  minutes  later,  Sam  Turner,  hatless,  and 
carrying  a  buggy  whip  and  wearing  a  torn  coat, 
trudged  up  the  Hollis  Creek  Inn  drive,  afoot, 
and  walked  rapidly  into  the  office. 

"Is  Miss  Stevens  about?"  he  wanted  to 
know. 

"Not  at  present,"  the  clerk  informed  him. 
179 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

"She  ordered  out  her  horse  a  few  minutes  ago, 
and  started  over  to  Sunset  Rock  with  a  party 
of  young  people  from  Meadow  Brook." 

"Which  way  is  Sunset  Rock?" 

The  clerk  handed  him  a  folder  which  con- 
tained a  map  of  the  roadways  thereabouts,  and 
pointed  out  the  way. 

"Could  you  get  me  a  saddle-horse  right 
away?" 

The  clerk  pounded  a  bell  and  ordered  up  a 
saddle-horse  for  Mr.  Turner,  who  immediately 
thereupon  turned  to  the  telephone,  and,  calling 
up  Meadow  Brook,  instructed  the  clerk  at  that 
resort  to  send  a  carriage  for  Mr.  Westlake,  who 
was  sitting  in  the  trap,  entirely  unharmed  but 
disinclined  to  walk,  at  the  foot  of  Laurel  Hill; 
then  he  explained  that  the  grays  had  run  away 
down  this  steep  declivity,  that  the  yoke  bar  had 
slipped,  the  tongue  had  fallen  to  the  ground, 
had  broken,  and  had  run  bade  up  through  the 
body  of  the  carriage.  The  horses  had  jerked 
the  doubletree  loose,  and  the  last  he  had  seen 
1 80 


ANOTHER  MISSED  APPOINTMENT 

of  their  marks  they  had  turned  up  the  Bald  Hill 
road  and  were  probably  going  yet.  By  the  time 
he  had  repeated  and  amplified  this  explanation 
enough  to  beat  it  all  through  the  head  of  the 
man  at  the  other  end  of  the  wire,  his  horse  was 
ready  for  him,  and  very  much  to  the  wonder- 
ment of  the  clerk  he  started  off  at  a  rattling 
gait,  without  taking  the  trouble  either  to  have 
himself  dusted  or  to  pin  up  his  badly  torn 
pocket. 

He  only  lost  his  way  once  among  the  devious 
turns  which  led  to  Sunset  Rock,  and  arrived 
there  just  as  the  party,  quite  satisfied  with  the 
inspection  of  a  view  they  had  seen  a  score  of 
times  before,  were  ready  to  depart,  his  appear- 
ance upon  the  scene  with  the  telltale  pocket 
being  greatly  to  the  discomfiture  of  everybody 
concerned  except  Miss  Stevens,  who  found 
herself  unaccountably  pleased  that  Sam's  delay 
had  been  due  to  an  accident,  and  able  to  believe 
his  briefly  told  explanation  at  once.  Miss  West- 
lake  was  in  despair.  She  had  really  hoped,  and 
181 


believed,  that  Sam  had  forgotten  his  engage- 
ment in  business  talk,  and  she  had  felt  quite 
triumphant  about  it.  Tilloughby,  satisfied  to 
be  with  Miss  Westlake,  and  Princeman,  more 
than  content  to  ride  by  the  side  of  Miss  Ste- 
vens, were  neither  of  them  overjoyed  at  the 
appearance  of  the  fifth  rider,  who  made  fully 
as  much  a  crowd  as  any  "third  party"  has  ever 
done ;  and  he  disarranged  matters  considerably, 
for,  though  at  first  lagging  behind  alone,  a  nar- 
row place  in  the  road  shifted  the  party  so  that 
when  they  emerged  upon  the  other  side  of  it 
Miss  Westlake  was  riding  by  the  side  of  Sam, 
and  Tilloughby  was  left  to  ride  alone  in  the 
center.  Thereupon  Miss  Westlake's  horse  de- 
veloped a  sudden  inclination  to  go  very  slowly. 

"Papa  says  I'm  becoming  a  very  keen  busi- 
ness woman,"  she  remarked,  by  and  by. 

"Well,  you've  the  proper  blood  in  you  for 
it,"  said  Sam. 

"That  doesn't  seem  to  count,"  she  laughed  ; 
"look  at  Billy.  But  I  think  I  did  a  remarkably 
182 


clever  stroke  this  morning.  I  induced  papa  to 
say  he'd  double  his  stock  in  your  company  and 
give  it  to  me.  He  tells  me  I've  enough  to 
'swing'  control.  Isn't  that  jolly?" 

"It's  hilariously  jolly,"  admitted  Sam,  but 
with  an  inward  wince.  Control  and  Westlake 
were  two  words  which  did  not  make,  for  him, 
a  cheerful  juxtaposition. 

"So  now  you'll  have  to  be  very  nice  indeed 
to  me,"  went  on  Miss  Westlake  banteringly, 
"or  I'm  likely  to  vote  with  the  other  crowd." 

"I'll  be  just  as  nice  to  you  as  I  know  how," 
offered  Sam.  "Just  state  what  you  want  me  to 
do  and  I'll  do  it." 

Miss  Westlake  did  not  state  what  she  wanted 
him  to  do.  In  place  of  that  she  whipped  up  her 
horse  rather  smartly,  after  a  thoughtful  silence, 
and  joined  Tilloughby,  the  three  of  them  rid- 
ing abreast.  The  next  shifting,  around  a  deep 
mud  hole  which  only  left  room  for  an  Indian 
file  procession,  brought  Sam  alongside  Miss 
Josephine,  and  here  he  stuck  for  the  balance 
183 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

of  the  ride,  leaving  Princeman  to  ride  part  of 
the  time  alone  between  the  two  couples,  and 
part  of  the  time  to  be  the  third  rider  with  each 
couple  in  alternation.  Miss  Josephine  was  very 
much  concerned  about  Mr.  Turner's  accident, 
very  happy  to  know  how  lucky  he  had  been  to 
come  off  without  a  scratch,  except  for  the  tear 
in  his  coat,  and  very  solicitous  indeed  about  any 
further  handling  of  the  obstreperous  gray 
team;  and,  forgiving  him  readily  under  the 
circumstances,  she  renewed  her  engagement  to 
drive  with  him  the  next  morning! 

Sam  rode  on  home  at  the  side  of  Miss  West- 
lake,  after  leaving  Miss  Stevens  at  Hollis 
Creek,  in  a  strange  and  nebulous  state  of  ela- 
tion, which  continued  until  bedtime.  As  he 
was  about  to  retire  he  was  handed  a  wire  from 
his  brother: 

"Just  received  patent  papers  meet  me  at 
Restview  morning  train." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

A  PLEASURE  RIDE  WITH  MISS  STEVENS 

THE  morning  train  was  due  at  ten  o'clock. 
At  ten  o'clock  also  Sam  was  due  at  Hollis 
Creek  to  take  his  long  deferred  drive  with 
Miss  Stevens.  It  was  a  slight  conflict,  her  en- 
gagement, but  the  solution  to  that  was  very 
easy.  As  early  in  the  morning  as  he  dared, 
Sam  called  up  Miss  Josephine. 

"I've  some  glorious  news,"  he  said  hope- 
fully. "My  kid  brother  will  arrive  at  Rest- 
view  on  the  ten  o'clock  train." 

"You  are  to  be  congratulated,"  Miss  Stevens 
told  him,  with  an  echo  of  his  own  delight. 

"But  you  know  we've  an  engagement  to  go 
driving  at  ten  o'clock,"  he  reminded  her,  still 
hopefully,  but  trembling  in  spirit. 

There  was  an  instant  of  hesitation,  which 
ended  in  a  laugh. 

185 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

"Don't  let  that  interfere,"  she  said.  "We 
can  defer  our  drive  until  some  other  time, 
when  fate  is  not  so  determined  against  it." 

"But  that  doesn't  suit  me  at  all,"  he  assured 
her.  "Why  can't  you  be  ready  at  nine  in 
place  of  ten,  let  me  call  for  you  at  that  time 
and  drive  over  to  Restview  with  me  to  meet 
Jack?" 

"Is  that  his  name?"  she  asked  in  blissfully 
reassuring  tones.  "You've  never  spoken  of 
him  as  anybody  but  your  'kid  brother.'  Why 
of  course  I'll  drive  over  to  Restview  with  you. 
I  shall  be  delighted  to  meet  him." 

Privately  she  had  her  own  fears  of  what 
Jack  Turner  might  turn  out  to  be  like.  Sam 
was  always  so  good  in  speaking  of  him,  always 
held  him  in  such  tender  regard,  such  profound 
admiration,  that  she  feared  he  might  prove  to 
be  perfect  only  in  Sam's  eyes. 

"Good,"  said  Sam.  "Just  for  that  I'm  going 
to  bring  you  over  some  choice  blooms  that  I 
have  been  having  the  gardener  save  back  for 
186 


A   RIDE  .WITH    MISS    STEVENS 

me,"  and  he  turned  away  from  the  telephone 
quite  happy  in  the  thought  that  for  once  he  had 
been  able  to  kill  two  birds  with  one  stone  with- 
out ruffling  the  feathers  of  either. 

Armed  with  a  huge  consignment  of  brilliant 
blossoms,  enough  to  transform  her  room  into 
a  fairy  bower,  he  sped  quite  happily  to  Hollis 
Creek. 

"Oh,  gladiolas !"  cried  Miss  Josephine,  as  he 
drove  up.  "How  did  you  ever  guess  it !  That 
little  bird  must  have  been  busy  again." 

"Honestly,  it  was  the  little  bird  this  time.  I 
just  had  an  intuition  that  you  must  like  them 
because  I  do  so  well,"  upon  which  naive  state- 
ment Miss  Josephine  me  rely  ^smiled,  and  call- 
ing her  father  with  pretty  peremptoriness,  she 
loaded  that  heavy  gentleman  down  with  the 
flowers  and  with  instructions  concerning  them, 
and  then  stepped  brightly  into  the  tonneau  with 
Sam. 

It  was  a  pleasant  ride  they  had  to  Restview, 
and  it  was  a  pleasant  surprise  which  greeted 
187 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

Miss  Josephine  when  the  train  arrived,  for  out 
of  it  stepped  a  youth  who  was  unmistakably  a 
Turner.  He  was  as  tall  as  Sam,  but  slighter, 
and  as  clean  a  looking  boy  as  one  would  find  in 
a  day's  journey.  There  was  that,  too,  in  the 
hand-clasp  between  the  brothers  which  pro- 
claimed at  once  their  flawless  relationship. 

Miss  Stevens  was  so  relieved  to  find  the 
younger  Turner  so  presentable  that  she  took 
him  into  her  friendship  at  once.  He  was  that 
kind  of  chap  anyhow,  and  in  the  very  first 
greeting  she  almost  found  herself  calling  him 
Jack.  Just  behind  him,  however,  was  a  little, 
dried-up  man  with  a  complexion  the  color  of 
old  parchment,  with  sandy,  stubby  hair  shot 
with  gray,  and  a  stubby  gray  beard  shot  with 
red.  His  lips  were  a  wide  straight  line,  as 
grim  as  judgment  day.  He  walked  with  a 
slight  stoop,  but  with  a  quick  staccato  step 
which  betokened  great  nervous  energy,  a  qual- 
ity which  the  alert  expression  of  his  beady  eyes 
confirmed  with  distinct  emphasis. 
1 88 


A   RIDE   WITH    MISS    STEVENS 

"Hello,  Creamer!"  hailed  Sam  to  this  gentle- 
man. "I  didn't  expect  to  see  you  here  quite  so 
soon." 

"You  had  every  right  to  expect  me," 
snapped  the  little  man  querulously.  "After  all 
the  experimenting  I  have  done  for  you  boys, 
you  had  every  reason  to  keep  me  posted  on  all 
your  movements;  and  yet  I  reckon  if  I  hadn't 
been  in  your  office  yesterday  evening  when  Jack 
said  he  was  coming  down  here,  you  would  not 
have  notified  me  until  you  had  your  company 
all  formed.  Then  I  suppose  you'd  have  writ- 
ten to  tell  me  how  much  stock  you  had  assigned 
to  me.  I'm  going  to  be  in  on  the  formation  of 
this  company,  and  I'm  going  to  have  my  say 
about  it !" 

"Will  you  never  get  over  that  dyspepsia?" 
chided  Sam  easily.  "There  was  no  intention 
of  leaving  you  out." 

"Just  what  I  told  him,"  declared  Jack,  turn- 
ing from  Miss  Stevens  to  them.  "I  have  been 
swearing  to  him  that  as  soon  as  we  had  found 

189 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

out  to-day  what  we  were  to  do  I  would  have 
wired  him  at  once." 

"You  were  quite  right,  Jack,"  approved 
Sam,  opening  the  door  of  the  car  for  them, 
"and  as  a  proof  of  it,  Creamer,  when  you  re- 
turn to  your  office  you  will  find  there  a  letter 
postmarked  yesterday,  telling  you  our  exact 
progress  here,  and  warning  you  to  be  in  read- 
iness to  come  on  telegram." 

"All  right,  then,"  said  Mr.  Creamer,  some- 
what mollified,  "but  since  that  letter's  there 
and  I'm  here,  you  might  as  well  tell  me  what 
you've  done." 

Sam  stopped  the  proceedings  long  enough 
to  introduce  Creamer  to  Miss  Stevens  after  he 
had  closed  the  door  upon  them  and  had  taken 
his  own  seat  by  the  chauffeur. 

"All  right,"  he  then  said  to  Mr.  Creamer, 
"I'll  begin  at  the  beginning." 

He  began  at  the  beginning.  He  told  Mr. 
Creamer  all  the  steps  in  the  development  of 
the  company.  He  detailed  to  him  the  names  of 
190 


A   RIDE  .WITH   MISS    STEVENS 

the  gentlemen  concerned,  and  their  complete 
commercial  histories,  pausing  to  answer  many 
pertinent  side  questions  and  observations  from 
his  younger  brother,  who  proved  to  be  as 
keen  a  student  of  business  puzzles  as  Sam  him- 
self. 

"That's  all  very  well,"  said  Mr.  Creamer, 
"and  now  I'm  here.  I  want  to  get  away  to- 
night. Can't  we  form  that  company  to-day? 
At  what  figure  do  you  propose  offering  the 
original  stock?" 

"The  preferred  at  fifty,  with  a  par  value  of 
a  hundred,"  returned  Sam  promptly. 

"Common?"  asked  Mr.  Creamer  crisply. 

"One  share  of  common  with  each  two  shares 
of  preferred." 

"Eh!  Well,  I've  twenty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars to  put  into  this  marsh  pulp  business,  if  I 
can  have  any  figure  in  the  management.  I 
want  on  the  board." 

"It's  quite  likely  you'll  be  on  the  board," 
returned  Sam.  "We  shall  have  a  very  small 
191 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

list  of  subscribers,  and  the  board  will  not  be 
unwieldy  if  every  investor  is  a  director." 

"Voting  power  in  the  common  stock?" 

"In  the  common  stock,"  repeated  Sam. 

"Do  you  intend  to  buy  any  preferred?"  asked 
Creamer. 

"A  hundred  shares." 

"How  much  common  do  you  expect  to  take 
out  for  your  patents?" 

"Two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand,"  Sam 
answered  without  an  instant's  hesitation. 

"Never!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Creamer.  "The 
time  for  that's  gone  by,  young  man,  no  matter 
how  good  your  proposition  is.  It's  too  old  a 
game.  You  won't  handle  my  money  with  con- 
trol in  your  hands.  I  have  no  objection  to 
letting  you  have  two  hundred  thousand  dollars 
worth  of  common  stock  out  of  the  half  million, 
because  that  will  give  you  an  incentive  to  make 
the  common  worth  par;  but  you  shan't  at  any 
time  have  or  be  able  to  acquire  a  share  over 
two  hundred  and  forty-nine  thousand;  not  if 
192 


A    RIDE   WITH    MISS    STEVENS 

I  know  anything  about  it!  Can  you  call  a 
meeting  as  soon  as  we  get  there?" 

"I  think  so,"  replied  Sam,  with  a  more  or 
less  worried  air.  "I'll  try  it.  Tell  you  what 
I'll  do.  I'll  run  right  on  over  to  get  Mr. 
Stevens,  who  wants  to  join  the  company,  and 
in  the  meantime  Mr.  Westlake  or  Princeman 
can  round  up  the  others." 

For  the  first  time  in  that  drive  Miss  Stevens 
had  something  to  say,  but  she  said  it  with  a 
briefness  that  was  like  a  dash  of  cold  water  to 
the  preoccupied  Sam. 

"Father  is  over  there  now,  I  think,"  she  said. 

"Good,"  approved  Mr.  Creamer.  "We  can 
have  a  little  direct  business  talk  and  wind  up 
the  whole  affair  before  lunch.  What  time  do 
we  arrive  at  Meadow  Brook?" 

"Before  eleven  o'clock." 

"That  will  give  us  two  hours.  Two  hours 
is  enough  to  form  any  company,  when  every- 
body knows  exactly  what  he  wants  to  do.  Got 
a  lawyer  over  there?" 

193 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

"One  of  the  best  in  the  country." 
Miss  Stevens  sat  in  the  center  seat  of  the 
tonneau.  Sam,  in  addressing  his  remarks  to 
the  others  and  in  listening  to  their  replies,  was 
compelled  to  sweep  his  glance  squarely  across 
her,  and  occasionally  in  these  sweeps  he  paused 
to  let  his  gaze  rest  upon  her.  She  was  a  relief 
to  his  eyes,  a  blessing  to  them !  Miss  Stevens, 
however,  seldom  met  any  of  these  glances. 
Very  much  preoccupied  she  was,  looking  at 
the  passing  scenery  and  not  seeing  it. 

There  had  begun  boiling  and  seething  in 
Miss  Stevens  a  feeling  that  she  was  decid- 
edly de  trop,  that  these  men  could  talk  their 
absorbing  business  more  freely  if  she  were  not 
there;  not  because  she  embarrassed  them,  but 
because  she  used  up  space !  Nobody  seemed  to 
give  her  a  thought.  Nobody  seemed  to  be 
aware  that  she  was  present.  They  were  almost 
gaspingly  engrossed  in  something  far  more 
important  to  them  than  she  was.  It  was  un- 
complimentary, to  say  the  least.  She  was  not 
194 


A   RIDE  WITH   MISS    STEVENS 

used  to  playing  "second  fiddle"  in  any  com- 
pany. She  was  in  the  habit  of  absorbing  the 
most  of  the  attention  in  her  immediate  vicinity. 
Mr.  Princeman  or  Mr.  Hollis  would  neither 
one  ignore  her  in  that  way,  to  say  nothing  of 
Billy  Westlake. 

She  was  glad  when  they  reached  Meadow 
Brook.  Their  whole  talk  had  been  of  marsh 
pulp,  and  company  organization,  and  preferred 
and  common  stock,  and  who  was  to  get  it,  and 
how  much  they  were  to  pay  for  it,  and  how 
they  were  going  to  cut  the  throats  of  the  wood 
pulp  manufacturers,  and  how  much  profit  they 
were  going  to  make  from  the  consumers  and 
with  all  that,  not  a  word  for  her.  Not  a  single 
word!  Not  even  an  apology!  Oh,  it  was 
atrocious!  As  soon  as  they  drew  up  to  the 
porch  she  rose,  and  before  Sam  could  jump 
down  to  open  the  door  of  the  tonneau  she  had 
opened  it  for  herself  and  sprung  out. 

"I'll  hunt  up  father  right  away  for  you," 
she  stated  courteously.  "Glad  to  have  met 
195 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

you,  Mr.  Creamer.  I  presume  I  shall  meet 
you  again,  Mr.  Turner,"  she  said  to  Jack. 
"Thank  you  so  much  for  the  ride,"  she  said  to 
Sam,  and  then  she  was  gone. 

Sam  looked  after  her  blankly.  It  couldn't 
be  possible  that  she  was  "huffy"  about  this 
business  talk.  Why,  couldn't  the  girl  see  that 
this  had  to  do  with  the  birth  of  a  great  big 
company,  a  million  dollar  corporation,  and 
that  it  was  of  vital  importance  to  him?  It 
meant  the  apex  of  a  lifetime  of  endeavor.  It 
meant  the  upbuilding  of  a  fortune.  Couldn't 
she  see  that  he  and  his  brother  were  two  lone 
youngsters  against  all  these  shrewd  business 
men,  whose  only  terms  of  aiding  them  and 
floating  this  big  company  was  to  take  their 
mastery  of  it  away  from  them?  Couldn't  she 
understand  what  control  of  a  million  dollar 
organization  meant?  He  was  not  angry  with 
Miss  Stevens  for  her  apparent  attitude  in  this 
matter,  but  he  was  hurt.  He  was  not  impatient 
with  her,  but  he  was  impatient  of  the  fact 
196 


A    RIDE   WITH    MISS    STEVENS 

that  she  could  not  appreciate.  Now  the  fat 
was  in  the  fire  again.  He  felt  that.  Under 
other  circumstances  he  would  have  said  that  it 
was  much  more  trouble  than  it  was  worth  to 
keep  in  the  good  graces  of  a  girl,  but  under  the 
present  circumstances — well,  his  heart  had 
sunk  down  about  a  foot  out  of  place,  and  he 
had  a  sort  of  faint  feeling  in  the  region  of  his 
stomach.  He  was  just  about  sick.  He  fol- 
lowed her  in,  just  in  time  to  see  the  flutter  of 
her  skirts  at  the  top  of  the  stairway,  but  he 
could  not  call  without  making  himself  and  her 
ridiculous.  Confound  things  in  general ! 

Mr.  Stevens  joined  him  while  he  was  still 
looking  into  that  blank  hole  in  the  world. 

"Glad  I  happened  to  be  here,  Sam,"  said 
Stevens.  "J°  tells  me  that  your  brother  and 
Mr.  Creamer  have  arrived  and  that  you  want 
to  form  that  company  right  away." 

"Yes,"  admitted  Sam.  ".Was  she  sarcastic 
about  it?" 

Mr.  Stevens  closed  his  eyes  and  laughed. 
197 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

"Not  exactly  sarcastic,"  he  stated;  "but  she 
did  allude  to  your  proposed  corporation  as 
'that  old  company !' ' 

"I  was  afraid  so,"  said  Sam  ruefully. 

Stevens  surveyed  him  in  amusement  for  a 
moment,  and  then  in  pity. 

"Never  mind,  my  boy,"  he  said  kindly. 
"You'll  get  used  to  these  things  by  and  by.  It 
took  me  the  first  five  years  of  my  married  life 
to  convince  Mrs.  Stevens  that  business  was  not 
a  rival  to  her  affections,  when,  if  I'd  only  have 
known  the  recipe,  I  could  have  convinced  her 
at  the  start." 

"How  did  you  finally  do  it?"  asked  Sam, 
vitally  interested. 

"Made  her  my  confidante  and  adviser," 
stated  Stevens,  smiling  reminiscently. 

Sam  shook  his  head. 

"Was  that  safe?"  he  asked.  "Didn't  she 
sometimes  let  out  your  secrets  ?" 

"Bosh!"  exclaimed  Stevens.  "I'd  rather 
trust  a  woman  than  a  man,  any  day,  with  a 
198 


A   RIDE   WITH   MISS    STEVENS 

secret,  business  or  personal.  That  goes  for 
any  woman;  mother,  sister,  sweetheart,  wife, 
daughter,  or  stenographer.  Just  give  them  a 
chance  to  get  interested  in  your  game,  and 
they're  with  you  against  the  world." 

"Thanks,"  said  Sam,  putting  that  bit  of  in- 
formation aside  for  future  pondering.  "By 
the  way,  Mr.  Stevens,  before  we  join  the 
others  I'd  like  to  ask  you  how  much  stock 
you're  going  to  carry  in  the  Marsh  Pulp  Com- 
pany." 

"Well,"  returned  Mr.  Stevens  slowly,  "I 
did  think  that  if  the  thing  looked  good  on  final 
analysis,  I  might  invest  twenty-five  thousand 
'dollars." 

"Can't  you  stretch  that  to  fifty?" 

"Can't  see  it.  But  why?  Don't  you  think 
you're  going  to  fill  your  list  ?" 

"We'll  fill  our  list  all  right,"  returned  Sam. 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,  that's  what  I'm  afraid 

of.  These  fellows  are  going  to  pool  their  stock, 

and  hold  control  in  their  own  hands.    Now  if 

199 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

I  could  get  you  to  invest  fifty  thousand  and 
vote  with  me  under  proper  emergency,  I  could 
control  the  thing;  and  I  ought  to.  It  is  my 
own  company.  Seems  to  me  these  fellows  are 
selfish  about  it.  You  think  I'm  a  good  business 
man,  don't  you?" 

"I  certainly  do,"  agreed  Mr.  Stevens  emphat- 
ically. 

"Well,  it  stands  to  reason  that  if  I  have 
two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars  of 
common  stock  that  isn't  worth  a  picayune 
unless  I  make  it  worth  par,  I'll  hustle;  and  if 
I  make  my  common  stock  worth  par,  I'm  mak- 
ing a  fine,  fat  profit  for  these  other  fellows,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  raising  of  their  preferred 
stock  from  the  value  of  fifty  to  a  hundred  dol- 
lars a  share,  and  their  common  from  nothing  to 
a  hundred." 

"That's  all  right,  Sam,"  returned  Mr.  Stev- 
ens; "but  you'll  work  just  as  hard  to  make 
your  common  worth  par  if  you  only  have  two 
hundred  thousand;  and  there's  a  growing  ten- 
200 


A    RIDE    WITH    MISS    STEVENS 

dency  on  the  part  of  capital  to  be  able  to  keep 
a  string  on  its  own  money.  Strange,  but  true." 

"All  right,"  said  Sam  wearily.  "We  won't 
argue  that  point  any  more  just  now;  but  will 
you  invest  fifty  thousand?" 

"I  can't  promise,"  said  Stevens,  and  he 
walked  out  on  the  porch.  Much  worried,  Sam 
followed  him,  and  with  many  misgivings  he 
introduced  Mr.  Stevens  to  his  brother  Jack 
and  to  Mr.  Creamer.  The  prospective  organ- 
izers of  the  Marsh  Pulp  Company  were  al- 
ready in  solemn  conclave  on  the  porch,  with 
the  single  exception  of  Princeman,  who  was 
on  the  lawn  talking  most  perfunctorily  with 
Miss  Josephine.  That  young  lady,  with  wick- 
edness of  the  deepest  sort  in  her  soul,  was 
doing  her  best  to  entice  Mr.  Princeman  into 
forgetting  the  important  meeting,  but  as  soon 
as  Princeman  saw  the  gathering  hosts  he 
gently  but  firmly  tore  himself  away,  very  much 
to  her  surprise  and  indignation.  Why,  he  had 
been  as  rude  to  her  as  Sam  Turner  himself,  in 

201 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

placing  the  charms  of  business  above  her  own ! 
Immediately  afterward  she  snubbed  Billy 
Westlake  unmercifully.  Had  he  the  qualities 
which  would  go  to  make  a  successful  man  in 
any  walk  of  life?  No! 


202 


CHAPTER  XIV, 

A  DUAL  QUESTION  OF  MATRIMONIAL  ELIGIBIL- 
ITY AND  STOCK  SUBSCRIPTION 

MR.  WESTLAKE  dropped  back  with 
his  old  friend  Stevens  as  they  trailed 
into  the  parlor  which  Blackstone  had  secured. 

"Are  you  going  to  subscribe  rather  heavily  in 
the  company,  Stevens?"  inquired  Westlake, 
with  the  curiosity  of  a  man  who  likes  to  have 
his  own  opinion  corroborated  by  another  man 
of  good  judgment. 

"Well,"  replied  the  father  of  Miss  Jo- 
sephine, "I  think  of  taking  a  rather  solid  little 
block  of  stock.  I  believe  I  can  spare  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  to  invest  in  almost  any 
company  Sam  Turner  wants  to  start." 

"He's  a  fine  boy,"  agreed  Westlake.  "A 
square,  straight  young  fellow,  a  good  business 
man,  and  a  hustler.  I  see  him  playing  tennis 
203 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

with  my  girl  every  day,  and  she  seems  to  think 
a  lot  of  him." 

"He's  bound  to  make  his  mark,"  Mr.  Stev- 
ens acquiesced,  sharply  suppressing  a  fool  im- 
pulse to  speak  of  his  own  daughter.  "Do  you 
fellows  intend  to  let  him  secure  control  of  this 
company  ?" 

"I  should  say  not!"  replied  Westlake,  with 
such  unnecessary  emphasis  that  Stevens  looked 
at  him  with  sudden  suspicion.  He  knew  enough 
about  old  Westlake  to  "copper"  his  especially 
emphatic  statements. 

"Are  you  agreeable  to  Princeman's  plan  to 
pool  all  stock  but  Turner's?" 

"Well — we  can  talk  about  that  later." 

"Huh!"  grunted  Mr.  Stevens,  and  together 
the  two  heavy-weights,  Stevens  with  his  ag- 
gressive beard  suddenly  pointed  a  trifle  more 
straight  out,  and  Mr.  Westlake  with  his  placid- 
ity even  more  marked  than  usual,  stalked  on 
into  the  parlor,  where  Mr.  Blackstone,  taking 
the  chair  pro  tern.,  read  them  the  preliminary 
204 


MATRIMONIAL    ELIGIBILITY 

agreement  he  had  drawn  up ;  upon  which  Sam 
Turner  immediately  started  to  wrangle,  a  pro- 
ceeding which  proved  altogether  in  vain. 

The  best  he  could  get  for  patents  and  promo- 
tion was  two  thousand  out  of  the  five  thousand 
shares  of  common  stock,  and  finally  he  gave 
in,  knowing  that  he  could  not  secure  the 
right  kind  of  men  on  better  terms.  Mr.  Black- 
stone  thereupon  offered  a  subscription  list,  to 
which  every  man  present  solemnly  appended 
his  name  opposite  the  number  of  shares  he 
would  take.  Sam,  at  the  last  moment,  put 
down  his  own  name  for  a  block  of  stock  which 
meant  a  cash  investment  of  considerably  more 
than  he  had  originally  figured  upon.  He  cast 
up  the  list  hurriedly.  Five  hundred  shares 
of  preferred,  carrying  half  that  much  common, 
were  still  to  be  subscribed.  With  whom  could 
he  combine  to  obtain  control?  The  only  men 
who  had  subscribed  enough  for  that  purpose 
were  Princeman,  who  was  out  of  the  question, 
and,  in  fact,  would  be  the  leader  of  the  oppo- 
205 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

sition,  and  Westlake.  The  highest  of  the  others 
were  Creamer,  Cuthbert  and  Stevens.  Sam 
would  have  to  subscribe  for  the  entire  five  hun- 
dred in  order  to  make  these  men  available  to 
him. 

McComas  and  Blackstone  had  only  sub- 
scribed for  the  same  amount  as  Sam.  They 
could  do  him  no  good,  and  he  knew  it  was 
hopeless  to  attempt  to  get  two  men  to  join  with 
him.  He  looked  over  at  Westlake.  That  gen- 
tleman was  smiling  like  a  placid  cherub,  all 
innocence  without,  and  kindliness  and  good 
deeds;  but  there  was  nevertheless  something 
fishy  about  Westlake's  eyes,  and  Sam,  in  mem- 
ory, cast  over  a  list  of  maimed  and  wounded 
and  crushed  who  had  come  in  Westlake's  busi- 
ness way.  The  logical  candidate  was  Stevens. 
Stevens  simply  had  to  take  enough  stock  to 
overbalance  this  thing,  then  he  simply  must 
vote  his  stock  with  Sam's !  That  was  all  there 
was  to  it !  Sam  did  not  pause  to  worry  about 
how  he  was  to  gain  over  Stevens'  consent,  but 
206 


MATRIMONIAL   ELIGIBILITY 

he  had  an  intuitive  feeling  that  this  was  his 
only  chance. 

"Stevens,"  said  he  briskly,  "there  are  five 
hundred  shares  left.  I'll  take  half  of  it  if 
you'll  take  the  other  half." 

His  brother  Jack  looked  at  him  startled. 
Their  total  holdings,  in  that  case,  would  mean 
an  investment  of  more  money  than  they  could 
spare  from  their  other  operations.  It  would 
cramp  them  tremendously,  but  Jack  ventured 
no  objections.  He  had  seen  Sam  at  the  helm 
in  decisive  places  too  often  to  interfere  with 
him,  either  by  word  or  look.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  such  a  proceeding  was  not  safe  anyhow. 

"I  don't  mind — "  began  Westlake,  slowly 
fixing  a  beaming  eye  upon  Sam,  and  crossing 
his  hands  ponderously  upon  his  periphery;  but 
before  he  could  announce  his  benevolent  inten- 
tion, Mr.  Stevens,  with  what  might  almost 
have  been  considered  a  malevolent  glance  to- 
ward Mr.  Westlake,  spoke  up. 

"I'll  accept  your  proposition,"  he  said  with 
207 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

a  jerk  of  his  beard  as  his  jaws  snapped.  So 
Miss  Westlake  thought  a  great  deal  of  Sam, 
eh?  And  old  Westlake  knew  it,  eh?  And  he 
had  already  subscribed  enough  stock  to  throw 
Sam  control,  eh? 

"Thanks,"  said  Sam,  and  shot  Mr.  Stevens 
a  look  of  gratitude  as  he  altered  the  subscrip- 
tion figures. 

"Stop  just  a  moment,  Sam,"  put  in  Mr. 
Westlake.  "How  many  shares  of  common 
stock  does  that  give  you  in  combination  with 
your  bonus?" 

"Two  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty," 
said  Sam. 

"Oh!"  said  Mr.  Westlake  musingly;  "not 
enough  for  control  by  two  hundred  and  forty 
one  shares;  so  you  won't  mind,  since  you 
haven't  enough  for  control  anyhow,  if  I  take 
up  that  additional  two  hundred  and  fifty  shares 
of  preferred,  with  its  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  of  common,  myself." 

Sam  once  more  paused  and  glanced  over  the 
208 


MATRIMONIAL    ELIGIBILITY 

subscription  list.  As  it  stood  now,  aside  from 
Princeman,  there  were  two  members,  Westlake 
and  Stevens,  with  whom,  if  he  could  get  either 
one  of  them  to  do  so,  he  could  pool  his  common 
stock.  If  he  allowed  Westlake  to  take  up  this 
additional  two  hundred  and  fifty  shares,  West- 
lake  was  the  only  string  to  his  bow. 

"No,  thanks,"  said  Sam.  "I  prefer  to  keep 
them  myself.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  a  very  fair 
and  equitable  division  just  as  it  is." 

In  the  end  it  stood  just  that  way. 


209 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  HERO  OF  THE  HOUR 

ON  that  very  same  afternoon,  the  youth 
and  beauty,  also  the  age  and  wisdom, 
of  both  Hollis  Creek  and  Meadow  Brook, 
gathered  around  the  ball  field  of  the  former 
resort,  to  watch  the  Titanic  struggle  for  vic- 
tory between  the  two  picked  nines.  As  Sam 
took  his  place  behind  the  bat  for  the  first  man 
up,  who  was  Hollis,  he  felt  his  first  touch  of 
self-confidence  anent  the  strictly  amusement 
features  of  summer  resorting.  In  all  the  other 
athletic  pursuits  he  had  been  backward,  but 
here,  as  he  smacked  his  fist  in  his  glove,  he  felt 
at  home. 

The  only  thing  he  did  not  like  about  it, 
as  Princeman  wound   himself  up  to   deliver 
the  first  ball,  was  that  Princeman  had  the  posi- 
210 


THE   HERO    OF   THE    HOUR 

tion  of  glory.  On  that  gentleman  the  spot- 
light burned  brightly  all  the  time,  and  if  they 
won,  he  would  be  the  hero  of  the  hour;  the 
modest,  reliable  catcher  would  scarcely  be 
thought  of  except  by  the  men  who  knew  the 
finer  points  of  the  game,  and  it  was  not  the 
men  whom  he  had  in  mind.  Honestly  and  sin- 
cerely, he  desired  to  shine  before  Miss  Jo- 
sephine Stevens.  She  was  over  there  at  the 
edge  of  the  field  under  an  oak  tree. 

Before  her,  cavorting  for  her  amusement, 
were  not  only  Princeman  and  himself,  but 
Billy  Westlake  and  Hollis,  each  of  them  alert 
for  action  at  this  moment ;  for  now  Princeman, 
with  a  mighty  twirl  upon  his  great  toe,  re- 
leased the  ball.  It  never  reached  Sam  Turner's 
hands;  instead  it  bounced  off  the  bat  with  a 
"crack!"  and  sailed  right  down  through  Billy 
Westlake,  who,  at  second,  made  a  frantic  grab 
for  it,  and  then  it  spun  out  between  center  and 
right  field,  losing  itself  in  the  bushes,  while 
Hollis,  amid  the  frantic  cheers  of  the  audience, 
211 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

which  consisted  of  Miss  Josephine  Stevens  and 
several  unconsidered  other  spectators,  tore 
around  the  circuit.  His  colleagues  strove 
wildly  to  hold  Hollis  at  third,  for  the  ball  was 
found  and  was  sailing  over  to  that  base.  It 
arrived  there  just  as  he  did,  but  far  over  the 
head  of  the  third  baseman,  and  fat,  curly- 
haired  Hollis,  who  looked  like  an  ice  wagon 
but  ran  like  a  motorcycle,  secured  the  first  run 
for  Hollis  Creek. 

The  next  batter  was  up.  Princeman,  his  con- 
fidence loftily  unshaken,  gave  a  correct  imita- 
tion of  a  pretzel  and  delivered  the  ball.  The 
batsman  swung  viciously  at  it. 

Spat !    It  landed  in  Sam's  glove. 

"Strike  one!"  called  the  strident  voice  of 
Blackrock,  who,  jerking  himself  back  several 
years  into  youth  again,  was  umpiring  the  game 
with  great  joy.  Nonchalantly  Sam  snapped 
the  ball  back  over-hand.  Princeman  smiled 
with  calm  superiority.  He  wound  himself  up. 

Spat!  The  ball  had  cut  the  plate  and  was 
212 


THE   HERO    OF   THE    HOUR 

in  Sam's  hands,  while  the  batsman  stood  look- 
ing earnestly  at  the  path  over  which  it  had 
come. 

"Strike  two!"  called  Blackstone. 

Sam  jerked  the  ball  back  with  an  under- 
wrist  toss  of  great  perfection.  Princeman  drew 
himself  up  with  smiling  ease  and  posed  a  mo- 
ment for  the  edification  of  the  on-lookers. 
Sam  Turner  was  the  very  first  to  detect  the  un- 
bearable arrogance  of  that  pose.  Princeman 
eyed  the  batsman  critically,  mercilessly  even, 
and  delivered  the  third  fatal  plate-splitter. 

Z-z-z-ing!  The  sphere  slammed  right  out 
through  Billy  Westlake,  who  made  a  frantic 
grab  for  it.  It  bounded  down  between  center 
and  right  field,  and  the  players  bumped  shoul- 
ders in  trying  to  stop  it.  It  nestled  among  the 
bushes.  The  batsman  tore  around  the  bases. 
His  colleagues  tried  to  hold  him  at  third,  for 
the  ball  was  streaking  in  that  direction,  but 
the  batsman  pawed  straight  on.  The  ball 
crossed  the  base  before  he  did,,  but  it  bounded 
213 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

between  the  third  sacker's  feet,  and  score  two 
was  marked  up  for  Hollis  Creek,  with  nobody 
out! 

With  undiminished  confidence,  though 
somewhat  annoyed,  Princeman  made  a  cute 
little  knot  of  himself  for  the  next  batsman. 

Spat !  The  ball  landed  in  Sam's  glove,  two 
feet  wide  of  the  plate. 

"Ball  one!"  called  Blackstone. 

Spat !  In  Sam's  glove  again,  with  the  bats- 
man jumping  back  to  save  his  ribs. 

"Ball  two!"  cried  Blackstone. 

Spat! 

"Ball  three." 

"Put  'em  over,  Princeman!"  yelled  Billy 
.Westlake  from  second. 

"Don't  be  afraid  of  him!  He  couldn't  hit 
it  with  a  pillow !"  jeered  the  third  baseman. 

In  a  calm,  superior  sort  of  way,  Mr.  Prince- 
man smiled  and  shot  over  the  ball. 

"Four  balls.     Take  your  base!"  said  Mr. 
Blackstone,  quite  gently. 
214 


THE   HERO    OF.   THE    HOUR 

Reassuringly  Mr.   Princeman  smiled   upon 
his  supporters,  consisting  of  Miss  Josephine 
Stevens  and  some  other  summer  resorters,  and 
proceeded  to  take  out  his  revenge  upon  the 
next  batter.    The  first  two  lofts  were  declared 
to  be  balls,  and  then  Sam,  catching  his  man 
playing  too  far  off,  snapped  the  pill  down  to 
the  nearest  suburb  and  nailed  the  first  out. 
Encouraged  by  this,  Princeman  put  over  three 
successive  strikes,  and  there  were  two  gone. 
The  next  batter  up,  however,  laced  out,  for  two 
easy  way-points,  the  first  ball  presented  him. 
The  next  athlete  brought  him  in  with  a  single, 
and  the  next  one  put  down  a  three-bagger 
which  bored  straight  through  Princeman  and 
short  stop  and  center  field.  That  inglorious  in- 
ning ended  with  a  brilliant  throw  of  Sam's  to 
Billy  Westlake  at  second,  nipping  a  would-be 
thief  who  had  hoped  to  purloin  the  seventh  tally 
for  Hollis  Creek. 

Billy   Westlake,    then   taking   the  bat,    in- 
creased the  Meadow  Brook  depression  by  slap- 
215 


THE    EARLY,   BIRD 

ping  the  soft  summer  air  three  vicious  spanks 
and  retiring  to  think  it  over,  and  young  Til- 
loughby  bounced  a  feeble  little  bunt  square  at 
the  feet  of  Hollis  and  was  tossed  out  at  first 
by  something  like  six  furlongs.  The  third  bats- 
man popped  up  a  slow,  lazy  foul  which  gave 
the  catcher  almost  plenty  of  time  to  roll  a 
cigarette  before  it  came  down,  and  the 
Meadow  Brook  side  was  ignominiously  retired. 
Score,  six  to  nothing  at  the  end  of  the  first. 

Princeman  hit  the  first  man  up  in  the  next 
inning  and  sent  him  down  to  the  initial  bag, 
which  was  a  flat  stone,  happily  limping.  He 
issued  free  transportation  to  the  next  man  and 
let  the  cripple  hobble  on  to  second,  chortling 
with  glee.  The  third  man  went  to  the  first 
station  on  a  measly  little  bunt  with  which  Sam 
and  Princeman  and  third  base  did  some  neat 
and  shifty  foot  work,  and  the  next  man  up 
soaked  out  a  Wright  Brothers  beauty  among 
the  trees  over  beyond  left  field,  and  cleared  the 
bases  amid  the  perfectly  frantic  rejoicing  of 
216 


THE    HERO    OF   THE    HOUR 

the  fickle  Miss  Josephine  Stevens  and  all  the 
negligible  balance  of  Hollis  Creek.  Oh,  it  was 
disgraceful!  Sam  Turner  ground  his  teeth  in 
impotent  rage.  He  walked  up  to  Princeman. 

"Say,  old  man,"  he  pleaded.  "We've  just 
got  to  settle  down!  We  must  pull  this  game 
out  of  the  fire !  We  can't  let  Hollis  Creek  walk 
away  with  it !" 

Princeman  was  pale,  but  clutched  at  his  fast- 
slipping-away  nonchalance  with  the  grip  of 
desperation. 

"We'll  hold  them,"  he  declared,  and  with 
careful  deliberation  he  put  over  a  ball  which 
the  next  batter  sent  sailing  right  down  inside 
the  right  foul  line,  pulling  the  first  baseman 
away  back  almost  to  right  field.  Princeman 
stood  gaping  at  that  bingle  in  paralyzed  dis- 
may ;  but  the  batsman,  who  was  a  slow  runner 
and  slow  thinker,  stood  a  fatal  second  to  see 
whether  the  ball  was  fair  or  foul.  Almost  at 
the  crack  of  the  bat  Sam  Turner  started,  raced 
down  to  first,  caught  the  right  fielder's  throw 
217 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

and  stepped  on  the  stone,  one  handsome  stride 
ahead  of  the  runner!  Then,  as  Blackrock, 
speechless  with  admiration,  waved  the  runner 
out,  the  first  mighty  howl  went  up  from 
Meadow  Brook,  and  one  partisan  of  the  Hollis 
Creek  nine,  turning  her  back  for  the  moment 
squarely  upon  her  own  colors,  led  the  cheering. 
Sam  heard  her  voice.  It  was  a  solo,  while  all 
the  rest  of  the  cheering  was  a  faint  accompani- 
ment, and  with  such  elation  as  comes  only  to 
the  heroes  in  victorious  battle,  he  trotted  back 
to  his  place  and  caught  three  balls  and  three 
strikes  on  the  next  batter.  Also,  the  next  one 
went  out  on  a  pop  fly  which  Sam  was  able  to 
catch. 

In  their  half  Princeman  redeemed  himself 
in  part  by  a  three  bagger  which  brought  in  two 
scores,  and  the  second  inning  ended  at  ten  to 
three  in  favor  of  Hollis  Creek. 

Confident  and  smiling,  reinforced  by  the 
memory  of  his  three  bagger,  Princeman  took 
the  mount  for  the  beginning  of  the  third,  and 
218 


THE   HERO    OF   THE   HOUR 

with  his  compliments  he  suavely  and  politely 
presented  a  base  to  the  first  man  up.  A  groan 
arose  from  all  Meadow  Brook.  The  second 
batsman  shot  a  stinger  to  Princeman,  who 
dropped  it,  and  that  batsman  immediately 
thereafter  roosted  on  first,  crowing  trium- 
phantly ;  but  the  hot  liner  allowed  Princeman  a 
graceful  opportunity.  He  complained  of  a 
badly  hurt  finger  on  his  pitching  hand.  He 
called  time  while  he  held  that  injured  member, 
and  expressed  in  violent  gestures  the  intoler- 
able agony  of  it.  Bravely,  however,  he  insisted 
upon  "sticking  it  out,"  and  passed  two  wild 
ones  up  to  the  next  willow  wielder ;  then,  hav- 
ing proved  his  gameness,  he  nobly  sacrificed 
himself  for  the  good  of  Meadow  Brook,  called 
time  and  asked  for  a  substitute  pitcher.  He 
would  go  anywhere.  He  would  take  the  field 
or  he  would  retire.  What  he  wanted  was 
Meadow  Brook  to  win.  This  was  precisely 
what  Sam  Turner  also  wanted,  and  he  lost  no 
time  in  calling,  with  ill-concealed  satisfaction, 
219 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

upon  his  brother  Jack.  Then  Jack  Turner, 
nothing  loath,  deserted  his  comfortable  seat  by 
the  side  of  Miss  Josephine  Stevens,  and  strode 
forth  to  the  mound,  leaving  the  unfortunate 
Princeman  to  take  his  place  by  the  side  of  Miss 
Stevens  and  give  her  an  opportunity  to  sympa- 
thize with  his  poor  maimed  pitching  hand, 
which,  after  a  perfunctory  moment  of  interest, 
she  was  too  busy  to  do;  for  Jack  Turner  and 
Sam  Turner,  smiling  across  at  each  other  in 
mutual  confidence  and  esteem,  proceeded  to 
strike  out  the  next  three  batters  in  succession, 
leaving  men  cemented  to  first  and  second  bases, 
where  they  had  been  wildly  imploring  for  op- 
portunities to  tear  themselves  loose. 

What  need  to  tell  of  the  balance  of  that 
game;  of  the  calm,  easy,  one-two-three  work 
of  the  invincible  Turner  battery;  of  the  bril- 
liant base  throwing  and  fielding  of  Turner  and 
Turner,  and  their  mighty  swats  when  they 
came  to  bat  ?  You  know  how  the  game  turned 
out.  Anybody  would  know.  It  ended  in  a 
220 


THE   HERO    OF   THE    HOUR 

triumph  for  Meadow  Brook  at  the  end  of  the 
seventh  inning,  which  is  all  any  summer  resort 
game  ever  goes,  and  two  innings  more  than 
most,  by  a  total  and  glorious  score  of  twenty- 
one  to  seventeen.  And  who  were  the  heroes 
of  the  hour,  as  smilingly  but  modestly  they 
strode  from  the  diamond?  Who,  indeed,  but 
Jack  Turner  and  Sam  Turner;  and  by  token 
of  their  victory,  after  receiving  the  frenzied 
plaudits  of  all  Meadow  Brook  and  the  gener- 
ous plaudits  of  all  Hollis  Creek,  they  marched 
in  triumph  from  the  field,  one  on  either  side  of 
Miss  Josephine  Stevens!  Where  now  were 
Hollis  and  Princeman  and  Billy  Westlake  ?  No- 
where !  They  were  forgotten  of  men,  ignored 
of  women,  and  the  laurels  of  sweet  victory 
rested  upon  the  brow  of  busy  Sam  Turner ! 


221 


CHAPTER  XVI 

AN  INTERRUPTED  BUT  PROPERLY  FINISHED  PRO- 
POSAL OF  MARRIAGE 

JACK'S  first  opportunity  for  a  quiet  talk 
with  his  brother  did  not  occur  for  an 
hour  after  the  game. 

"I  don't  like  to  worry  you  while  you're  rest- 
ing, Sam,"  he  began,  "but  I'll  have  to  tell  you 
that  the  Flatbush  deal  seems  likely  to  drop 
through.  It  reaches  a  head  to-morrow,  you 
know." 

Sam  Turner  grabbed  for  his  watch. 

"It  can't  drop  through!"  he  vigorously  de- 
clared. "I'll  go  right  up  there  to-night  and 
look  after  it." 

"But  you're  on  your  vacation,"  protested 
Jack.  "That's  no  way  to  rest." 

"On  my  vacation !"  snorted  Sam.  "Of  course 
I  am.  I'm  not  losing  a  minute  of  my  vacation. 

222 


AN   INTERRUPTED   PROPOSAL 

The  proper  way  to  have  a  vacation  is  to  do  the 
thing  you  enjoy  most.  Don't  you  suppose  I'll 
enjoy  closing  that  Flatbush  deal?" 

"Certainly,"  admitted  his  brother,  "and  I'll 
enjoy  seeing  you  do  it.  I  know  you  can." 

"Of  course  I  can.    But  you're  to  stay  here." 

"It's  not  my  turn  for  an  outing,"  protested 
Jack.  "I  haven't  earned  one  yet." 

"You're  to  work,"  explained  Sam.  "You 
see,  Jack,  in  one  week  I  can't  become  a  bowl- 
ing or  golf  expert  enough  to  beat  Princeman, 
nor  a  tennis  or  dancing  expert  enough  to  out- 
shine Billy  Westlake,  nor  a  horseback  or  cro- 
quet expert  enough  to  make  a  deuce  out  of 
Hollis.  You  can  do  all  these  things,  and  I 
want  you  to  give  this  crowd  of  distinguished 
amateurs  a  showing  up.  Jack,  if  you  ever 
worked  for  athletic  honors  in  your  life  now  is 
the  time  to  do  it ;  and  in  between  time  stick  to 
Miss  Stevens  like  glue.  Monopolize  her.  Don't 
give  these  three  or  any  other  contenders  any  of 
her  time.  Keep  her  busy.  Let  me  know  every 
223 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

day  what  progress  you're  making;  don't  stop 
to  write;  wire!  For  remember,  Jack,  I'm 
going  to  marry  her.  I've  got  to." 

"Well,  then  you'll  marry  her,"  Jack  sagely 
concluded.  "Does  she  know  it  yet?" 

"I  don't  think  she's  quite  sure  of  it,"  re- 
turned Sam  with  careful  analysis.  "Of  course 
she's  thought  about  it.  Sometimes  she  thinks 
she  won't,  and  sometimes  she  thinks  she  will, 
and  sometimes  she  isn't  quite  sure  whether  she 
will  or  not.  Don't  you  worry  about  that  part, 
though,  and  don't  bother  to  boost  me.  Just 
quietly  you  take  the  shine  out  of  these  summer 
champions  and  leave  the  rest  to  your  brother 
Sam." 

"Fine,"  agreed  Jack.  "Run  right  along  and 
sell  your  papers,  Sammy,  and  I'll  wire  you 
every  time  I  put  over  a  point." 

Sam  hunted  and  found  Miss  Josephine. 

"I'm  sorry  I  have  to  take  a  run  back  to  New 
York  for  two  or  three  days,"  he  said. 

She  bent  upon  him  a  glance  of  amusement ; 
224 


"I  don't  like  to  worry  you,  Sam" 


AN    INTERRUPTED    PROPOSAL 

the  old  glance  of  mingled  amusement  and  mis- 
chief. 

"I  thought  you  were  on  your  vacation/'  she 
observed. 

"And  I  am,"  he  insisted.  "I've  been  having  a 
bully  time,  and  I'll  come  back  here  to  finish  up 
the  couple  of  days  I  have  left." 

"Then  the  drive  which  didn't  count  this 
morning,  and  which  was  postponed  again  until 
to-morrow/  morning,  will  have  to  be  put  off 
once  more,"  she  reminded  him  with  a  gay 
laugh. 

"By  George,  that's  so!"  he  exclaimed.  "In 
all  the  excitement  it  had  quite  slipped  my 
mind." 

"I  presume  you're  going  up  on  business," 
she  slyly  observed. 

"Yes,  I  am,"  he  admitted. 

She  laughed  and  gave  him  her  hand. 

"Well,  I  wish  you  good  luck,"  she  said.  "I 
hope  you  make  all  the  money  in  the  world. 
But  you  won't  forget  us  who  are  down  here  in 
225 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

the  country  dawdling  away  our  time  in  useless 
amusements." 

"Forget  you!"  he  returned  impetuously. 
"Never  for  a  minute!"  and  he  was  in  such 
deadly  earnest  about  it  that  she  hastily  checked 
further  speech,  although  she  did  not  know 
why. 

"Good !"  she  hurriedly  exclaimed.  "I'm  glad 
you  will  bear  us  in  mind  while  you're  gone. 
Are  you  going  to  take  your  brother  along?" 

"No,"  he  said  with  a  smile.  "I'm  putting 
him  in  as  my  vacation  substitute,  and  I'll  give 
him  special  instructions  to  call  you  up  every 
morning  for  orders.  You'll  find  him  in  per- 
fect discipline.  He'll  do  whatever  you  tell 
him." 

"I  shall  give  him  a  thorough  trial,"  she 
laughed.  "I  never  yet  had  anybody  to  come 
and  go  abjectly  at  the  word  of  command,  and 
I  think  it  will  be  a  delightful  novelty." 

Jack  approaching  just  then,  she  took  his  arm 
quite  comfortably. 

226 


AN   INTERRUPTED   PROPOSAL 

"Your  brother  tells  me  that  during  his  ab- 
sence you  are  to  be  my  chief  aide  and  attache," 
she  advised  that  young  man  gaily ;  "that  you'll 
fetch  and  carry  and  do  what  I  tell  you ;  and  the 
first  thing  you  must  do  is  to  call  for  me  when 
you  take  Mr.  Turner  to  the  train." 

It  is  glorious  to  part  so  pleasantly  as  that 
from  people  you  have  persistently  in  mind,  and 
Sam,  with  such  cheerful  recollections,  enjoyed 
his  vacation  to  the  full  as  he  did  new  and  bril- 
liant and  unexpected  things  in  closing  up  the 
Flatbush  deal,  keeping,  in  the  meantime,  in 
constant  touch  with  his  office  and  with  such 
telegrams  as  these : 

"Established  new  tennis  record  this  morning 
Westlake  nowhere  and  has  been  snubbed  do  not 
know  why." 

"Bowled  two  eighty  five  last  night  against 
Princeman  two  twenty  am  teaching  her." 

"Danced  six  dances  out  of  twelve  with  her 
says  I'm  better  dancer  than  Billy  Westlake." 

227 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

"Jumped  Hollis  Creek  after  her  hat  on 
horseback  this  afternoon  Hollis  dared  not  fol- 
low am  to  give  her  riding  lessons." 

Then  came  this  one: 

"Her  father  just  told  me  she  refused  Prince- 
man  last  night  she  will  not  talk  to  Hollis  and 
scarcely  to  me  is  dull  and  does  not  eat  I  beat 
all  entries  in  ten  mile  Marathon  today  and  she 
hardly  applauded  wire  instructions." 

Sam  Turner  took  the  next  train.  One  look 
at  Miss  Stevens,  after  he  had  traveled  two 
years  to  reach  Restview,  made  him  suddenly 
intoxicated,  for  in  her  eyes  there  was  ravenous 
hunger  for  him  and  he  read  it,  and  feeling 
rather  sure  of  his  ground  he  determined  that 
now  was  the  time  to  strike.  With  that  decisive 
end  in  view  he  dropped  Jack  at  Meadow  Brook 
and  went  right  on  over  to  Hollis  Creek  with 
Miss  Josephine.  Of  course  there  was  no  chance 
to  talk  quite  intimately,  with  Henry  up  there 
ahead  listening  with  all  his  ears,  but  there  was 
every  chance  in  the  world  to  look  into  her  eyes 
228 


AN    INTERRUPTED    PROPOSAL 

and  grow  delirious;  to  touch  elbows;  to  look 
again  and  gaze  deep  into  her  eyes  and  see  her 
turn  away  startled  and  half  frightened ;  to  say 
perfunctory  things  which  meant  nothing  and 
everything,  and  receive  perfunctory  answers 
which  meant  as  little  and  as  much ;  but  before 
they  had  arrived  at  Hollis  Creek  Sam  was 
frankly  and  boldly  holding  her  hand  and  she 
was  letting  him  do  it,  and  they  were  both  of 
them  profoundly  happy  and  profoundly  silly, 
and  would  just  as  leave  have  ridden  on  that 
way  for  ever. 

Words  seemed  superfluous,  but  yet  they 
were  more  or  less  necessary,  so  Sam  got  out  at 
Hollis  Creek  Inn  with  her,  and  led  the  way 
determinedly  and  directly  into  the  stuffy  little 
parlor  just  off  the  main  assembly  room.  He 
saw  Mr.  Stevens  in  the  door  of  the  post-office, 
but  only  nodded  to  him,  and  then  he  drew  Miss 
Josephine  into  the  corner  freest  from  observa- 
tion. 

"You  know  why  I  came  back,"  he  informed 
229 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

her,  fixing  her  with  a  masterly  eye ;  "I  had  to 
see  you  again.  My  whole  life  is  changed  since 
I  met  you.  I  need  you.  I  can  not  do  without 
you.  I—" 

"Beg  your  pardon,  Sam,"  said  Mr.  Stevens, 
appearing  suddenly  in  the  doorway,  and  then 
he  paused,  much  more  confused  even  than  the 
young  people,  for  Sam  was  holding  both  Miss 
Josephine's  hands  and  gazing  down  at  her  with 
an  earnestness  which,  if  harnessed,  would  have 
driven  a  four-ton  dynamo ;  and  she  was  gazing 
up  at  him  just  as  earnestly,  with  an  entirely 
breathless,  but  by  no  means  displeased  expres- 
sion. 

"Excuse  me!"  stammered  Mr.  Stevens. 

It  was  Miss  Josephine  who  first  found  her 
aplomb.  She  smiled  her  rare  smile  of  mingled 
amusement  and  mischief  at  Sam,  and  then  at 
her  father. 

"You're  quite  excusable,  I  guess,  father," 
she  said  sweetly.  "What  is  it?" 

"Why,  your  brother  Jack  just  called  you  up 
230 


AN   INTERRUPTED   PROPOSAL 

from  Meadow  Brook,  Sam,  and  wants  to  tell 
you  something  immediately,"  stammered  Mr. 
Stevens,  plucking  at  a  beard  which  in  that  mo- 
ment seemed  to  have  lost  all  its  aggressiveness. 
"He  called  twice  before  you  arrived,  and  is  on 
the  'phone  now." 

Sam,  as  he  walked  to  the  telephone,  had  time 
to  find  that  his  heart  was  beating  a  tattoo 
against  his  ribs,  that  his  breath  was  short  and 
fluttery,  and  that  stage  fright  had  suddenly 
crept  over  him  and  claimed  him  for  its  own; 
so  it  was  with  no  great  patience  or  understand- 
ing that  he  heard  Jack  tell  him  in  great  glee 
about  some  tests  which  Princeman  had  had 
made  in  his  own  paper  mills  with  the  marsh 
pulp,  and  how  Princeman  was  sorry  he  had 
not  taken  more  stock,  and  could  not  the  treas- 
ury stock  be  opened  for  further  subscription? 

"Tell  him  no,"  said  Sam  shortly,  and  hung 
up  the  receiver ;  then  he  repented  of  his  blunt- 
ness  and  spent  five  precious  minutes  in  recalling 
his  brother  and  apologizing  for  his  brusk- 
2311 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

ness,  explaining  that  Princeman  was  probably 
trying  to  plan  another  attempt  to  pool  the 
stock. 

In  the  meantime  Theophiltis  Stevens  had 
stood  surveying  his  daughter  in  contrition. 

"I'm  afraid  I  came  in  at  a  most  inopportune 
moment,"  he  said  by  way  of  apology. 

"Yes,  I'm  afraid  you  did,"  she  admitted 
with  a  smile.  "However,  I  don't  think  Sam 
will  forget  what  he  wanted  to  say,"  and  sud- 
denly she  reached  up  and  put  her  arms  around 
her  father's  neck  and  drew  his  face  down  and 
kissed  him  rapturously. 

"I'm  glad  to  see  you  feel  the  way  you  do 
about  it,"  said  Mr.  Stevens  delightedly,  petting 
her  gently  upon  the  shoulder  with  one  hand 
and  with  the  other  smoothing  back*  the  hair 
from  her  forehead.  She  was  the  dearest  to  him 
of  all  his  children,  although  he  never  confessed 
it,  even  to  himself,  and  just  now  they  were 
very,  very  close  together  indeed.  "I'm  glad 
to  hear  you  call  him  Sam,  too.  He's  a  fine 
232 


AN    INTERRUPTED    PROPOSAL 

young  man  and  he  is  bound  to  be  a  howling 
success  in  everything  he  undertakes."  He 
smiled  reminiscently.  "I  rather  thought  there 
was  something  between  you  two,"  he  went  on, 
still  patting  her  shoulder,  "and  when  Dan 
Westlake  told  me  that  his  girl  thought  a  great 
deal  of  Sam  and  that  he  was  going  to  buy 
enough  stock  in  Sam's  company  to  give  Sam 
control,  I  turned  right  around  and  bought  just 
as  much  stock  as  Westlake  had,  although  just 
before  the  meeting  I  had  refused  to  invest  as 
much  money  as  Sam  wanted  me  to.  Moreover, 
Westlake  and  myself,  between  us,  stopped  the 
move  to  pool  the  outside  stock,  just  yet.  He's 
a  smart  young  man,  that  boy,"  he  continued 
admiringly.  "I  didn't  see,  until  I  went  into 
that  meeting,  why  he  was  so  crazy  to  have  me 
buy  enough  stock  to  gain  control —  What's  the 
matter?" 

He  stopped  in  perplexity,  for  his  daughter, 
looking  aghast  at  him,  had  pushed  back  from 
his  embrace  and  was  regarding  him  with  per- 
233 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

fectly  round  eyes,  while  over  her  face,  at  first 
pale,  there  gradually  crept  a  crimson  flush. 

"Well,  of  all  things!"  she  gasped.  "Of  all 
the  cold-blooded,  cruel,  barter-and-sale  pro- 
ceedings !  Why,  father,  how — how  could  you ! 
How  could  he !  I  never  in  all  my  life — " 

"Why,  Jo,  what  do  you  mean?  What's  the 
trouble?" 

"If  you  don't  understand  I  can't  make  you," 
she  said  helplessly. 

"Well,  I'll  be— busted!"  observed  Mr.  Ste- 
vens under  his  breath. 

To  his  infinite  relief  Sam  came  in  just  then, 
and  Mr.  Stevens,  wondering  what  he  had  done 
now,  slipped  hastily  out  of  the  room.  Mr. 
Turner,  coming  from  the  bright  office  into  the 
dim  room  and  innocent  of  any  change  in  the 
atmosphere,  approached  confidently  and 
eagerly  to  Miss  Josephine  with  both  hands  ex- 
tended, but  she  stepped  back  most  indignantly. 

"You  need  not  finish  what  you  were  going 
to  say !"  she  warned  him.  "My  father  has  just 
234 


AN    INTERRUPTED    PROPOSAL) 

given  me  some  information  which  changes  the 
entire  aspect  of  affairs.  I  am  not  a  part  of  a 
business  bargain!  I  refuse  to  be  regarded  as 
a  commercial  proposition!  I  heard  something 
from  Mr.  Princeman  of  what  desperate  efforts 
you  were  making  to  secure  the  command, 
whatever  that  may  be,  of  the — of  the  stock — 
board — of  shares  in  your  new  company,  but  I 
did  not  think  you  would  go  to  such  lengths  as 
this!" 

"Why,  my  dear  girl,"  began  Sam,  shocked. 

"I  am  not  your  dear  girl  and  I  never  shall 
be,"  she  told  him,  and  angrily  dabbed  at  some 
sudden  tears.  "I  never  was.  I  was  only  a  busi- 
ness possibility." 

"That's  unjust,"  he  charged  her.  "I  don't 
see  how  you  could  accuse  me  of  regarding  you 
in  any  other  way  than  as  the  dearest  and  the 
sweetest  and  the  most  beautiful  girl  in  all  the 
world,  the  wisest  and  the  most  sensible,  the 
most  faithful,  the  most  charming,  the  most  de- 
lightful, the  most  everything  that  is  desirable." 
235 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

"Wait  just  a  moment,"  she  told  him,  very 
coldly  indeed;  with  almost  extravagant  cold- 
ness, in  fact,  as  she  beat  out  of  her  conscious- 
ness the  enticing  epithets  he  had  bestowed  upon 
her.  "Do  you  mean  to  say  that  never  in  your 
calculations  did  you  consider  that  if  you  mar- 
ried me  my  father  would  vote  his  stock  with 
yours — I  believe  that's  the  way  he  puts  it — 
and  give  you  command  or  whatever  it  is  of 
your  company  ?" 

"Well,"  considered  Sam,  brought  to  a  stand- 
still and  put  straight  upon  his  honor,  "I  can't 
deny  that  it  did  seem  to  me  a  very  satisfactory 
thing  that  my  father-in-law  should  own 
enough  stock  in  the  company — " 

"That  will  do,"  she  interrupted  him  icily. 
"That  is  precisely  what  I  have  charged.  We 
will  consider  this  subject  as  ended,  Mr. 
Turner;  as  one  never  to  be  referred  to  again." 

"We'll  do  nothing  of  the  sort,"  returned 
Sam  flat-footedly.  "I've  been  composing  this 
speech  for  the  last  two  weeks  and  I'm  going  to 
236 


AN    INTERRUPTED    PROPOSAL 

deliver  it.  I'm  not  going  to  have  it  wasted. 
I've  unconsciously  been  rehearsing  it  every 
place  I  went.  Even  up  in  Flatbush,  showing  a 
man  the  superior  advantages  of  that  yellow- 
mud  district,  I  found  myself  repeating  sen- 
tence number  twelve.  It's  been  the  first  thing 
I  thought  of  in  the  morning  and  the  last  thing 
I  thought  of  at  night.  It's  been  with  me  all 
day,  riding  and  walking  and  talking  and  eat- 
ing and  drinking  and  just  breathing.  Now 
I'm  going  to  go  through  with  it. 

"I — I — confound  it  all !  I've  forgotten  how 
I  was  going  to  say  it  now!  After  all, 
though,  it  only  amounted  to  this :  I  love  you !  I 
want  you  to  know  it  and  understand  it.  I  love 
you  and  love  you  and  love  you !  I  never  loved 
any  woman  before  in  my  life.  I  never  had 
time.  I  didn't  know  what  it  was  like.  If  I 
had  I'd  have  fought  it  off  until  I  met  you,  be- 
cause I  could  not  afford  it  for  anybody  short 
of  you.  It  takes  my  whole  attention.  It  dis- 
tracts my  mind  entirely  from  other  things.  I 
237  ' 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

can't  think  of  anything  else  consecutively  and 
connectedly.  I — I'm  sorry  you  take  the  atti- 
tude you  do  about  this  thing,  but — I'm  not 
going  to  accept  your  viewpoint.  You've  got 
to  look  at  this  thing  differently  to  understand 
it. 

"I  know  you've  been  glad  I  loved  you.  You 
were  glad  the  first  day  we  met,  and  you  always 
will  be  glad !  Whatever  you  have  to  say  about 
it  just  now  don't  count.  I'm  going  to  let  you 
alone  a  while  to  think  it  over,  and  then  I'm 
coming  back  to  tell  you  more  about  it,"  and 
with  that  Sam  stalked  from  the  room,  leaving 
Miss  Josephine  Stevens  gasping,  dazed,  quite 
sure  that  he  was  unforgivable,  indignant  with 
everything,  still  rankling,  in  spite  of  all  Sam 
had  said,  with  the  thought  that  she  had  been 
made  a  mere  part  of  a  commercial  transaction. 
,Why,  it  was  like  those  barbarous  countries  she 
had  read  about,  where  wives  are  bought  and 
sold !  Preposterous  and  unbearable ! 

.While  she  was  in  this  storm  of  mixed  emo- 
238 


AN    INTERRUPTED    PROPOSAL' 

tions  her  father  came  in  upon  her,  this  time 
seriously  perplexed. 

"What  has  happened  to  Sam  Turner?"  he 
demanded.  "He  slammed  out  of  the  house, 
passed  me  on  the  porch  with  only  a  grunt,  and 
jumped  into  his  automobile.  You  must  have 
done  something  to  anger  him." 

"I  hope  that  I  did!"  she  retorted  with  spirit. 
"I  refused  to  marry  him." 

"You  did !"  he  returned  in  surprise.  "Why, 
I  thought  it  was  all  cut  and  dried  between 
you." 

"It  was  until  you  blundered  into  us  and 
spoiled  everything,"  she  charged.  "But  I'm 
glad  you  did.  You  let  me  know  that  Sam 
Turner  wanted  to  marry  me  because  you  had 
bought  shares  enough  in  his  company  to  give 
him  the  advantage.  I'm  ashamed  of  you  and 
ashamed  of  Sam — of  Mr.  Turner — and 
ashamed  of  myself.  Why,  you  make  a  bargain- 
counter  remnant  of  me !  I  never,  never  was  so 
humiliated !" 

239 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

"Poor  child!"  her  father  blandly  sympa- 
thized. "Also,  poor  Sam.  By  the  way,  though, 
he  doesn't  need  you  to  secure  control  of  his 
company.  Dan  Westlake,  as  I  told  you,  has 
bought  enough  stock  to  do  the  work,  and  Miss 
Westlake  would  marry  him  in  a  minute.  If 
Sam  wants  control  of  his  company,  he  only  has 
to  go  to  her  and  say  the  word." 

"Father !"  exclaimed  his  daughter  with  stern 
indignation.  "I  don't  see  how  you  can  even 
suggest  that!" 

"Suggest  what?    Now,  what  have  I  said?" 

"That  Sam — that  Mr.  Turner  would  even 
dream  of  marrying  that  Westlake  girl,  just  in 
order  to  get  the  better  of  a  business  transac- 
tion," and  very  much  to  Theophilus  Stevens' 
surprise  and  consternation  and  dismay,  she 
suddenly  crumpled  up  in  a  heap  in  her  chair 
and  burst  out  crying. 

~   "Well,  I'll  be  busted !"  her  father  muttered 
into  his  beard. 

24© 


CHAPTER  XVII 

SHE  CALLS  HIM  SAM  ! 

MISS  JOSEPHINE,  finding  all  ordi- 
nary occupations  stale,  unprofitable 
and  wearisome  on  the  following  morning,  and 
finding  herself,  moreover,  possessed  of  a  rest- 
less spirit  which  urged  her  to  do  something  or 
other  and  yet  recoiled  at  each  suggestion  she 
made  it,  started  out  quite  aimlessly  to  walk 
by  herself.  She  walked  in  the  direction  of 
Meadow  Brook.  The  paths  in  that  direction 
were  so  much  prettier. 

Sam  Turner,  finding  all  other  occupations 
stale,  unprofitable  and  wearisome,  at  the  same 
moment  started  out  to  walk  by  himself,  going 
in  the  direction  of  Hollis  Creek  because  that 
was  the  exact  direction  in  which  he  wanted  to 
go.  As  he  walked  much  more  rapidly  than 
Miss  Stevens,  he  arrived  midway  of  the  dis- 
241 


tance  before  she  did,  but  at  the  valley  where 
the  unnamed  stream  came  rippling  down  he 
paused. 

He  had  looked  often  at  this  little  hollow  as 
he  had  passed  it,  and  every  time  he  had  looked 
upon  it  he  seemed  to  have  an  idea  of  some  sort 
in  the  back  of  his  head  regarding  it;  a  dim, 
unformed,  fugitive  sort  of  idea  which  had 
never  asserted  itself  very  prominently  because 
he  had  been  too  busy  to  listen  to  its  rather  timid 
voice. 

Just  now,  however,  the  idea  suddenly  strug- 
gled to  make  itself  loudly  known,  where- 
upon Sam  bade  it  come  forth.  Given  hearing 
it  proved  to  be  a  very  pleasant  idea,  and  a 
forceful  one  as  well;  so  much  so  that  it  even 
checked  the  speed  with  which  Sam  had  set 
out  for  Hollis  Creek.  He  looked  calculatingly 
across  the  road  to  where  the  little  stream  went 
flashing  from  under  its  wooden  bridge  across 
the  field  and  hid  around  a  curve  behind  some 
bushes,  then  reappeared,  dancing  in  the  sun- 
242 


SHE   CALLS   HIM    SAM 

light,  until  finally  it  plunged  among  some  far 
trees  and  was  lost  to  him.  He  gazed  up  the 
stream.  He  had  not  very  far  to  look,  for  there 
it  ran  down  between  two  quite  steep  hills, 
through  a  sort  of  pocket  valley,  closed  or  al- 
most closed,  at  the  upper  end,  by  another  hill 
equally  steep,  its  waters  being  augmented  by 
a  leaping  little  stream  from  a  strong  spring 
hidden  away  somewhere  in  the  hill  to  the  left. 

As  his  eyes  calculatingly  swept  stream  and 
hills,  they  suddenly  caught  a  flutter  of  white 
through  the  trees,  and  it  was  coming  down  the 
winding  path  which  led  across  the  hills  to  Hol- 
lis  Creek.  As  it  emerged  more  from  the  con- 
cealment of  the  leaves  his  blood  gave  a  leap, 
for  the  flutter  of  white  was  a  gown  inclosing 
the  unmistakable  figure  of  Miss  Josephine 
Stevens.  The  whole  valley  suddenly  seemed 
radiant. 

"Hello !"  he  called  to  her  as  she  approached. 
"I  didn't  expect  to  find  you  here." 

"I  did  not  expect  to  be  here,"  she  laughed. 
243 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

"I  just  started  out  for  a  stroll  and  happened  to 
land  in  this  beautiful  spot." 

"Beautiful  is  no  name  for  it,"  he  replied 
with  sudden  vast  enthusiasm,  and  ran  up  the 
path  to  help  her  down  over  a  steep  place. 

For  a  moment,  in  the  wonderful  mystery  of 
the  touch  of  her  hand  and  the  joy  of  her  pres- 
ence, he  forgot  everything  else.  What  was  this 
strange  phenomenon,  by  which  the  mere  pres- 
ence of  one  particular  person  filled  all  the  air 
with  a  tingling  glow?  Marvelous,  that's  what 
it  was !  If  Miss  Josephine  had  any  of  the  same 
wonder  she  was  extremely  careful  not  to  ex- 
press it,  nor  let  it  show,  especially  after  yester- 
day's conversation,  so  she  immediately  talked 
of  other  things ;  and  the  first  thing  which  came 
handy  was  another  reference  to  the  beautiful 
valley. 

"You  know,  it  is  a  wonder  to  me,"  she  said, 
"that  no  one  has  built  a  summer  resort  here.  I 
think  it  ever  so  much  more  charming  than 
either  Hollis  Creek  or  Meadow  Brook." 
244 


SHE    CALLS    HIM    SAM 

"Do  you  believe  in  telepathy?"  asked  Sam, 
almost  startled.  "I  do.  It  hasn't  been  but  a 
few  minutes  since  that  identical  idea  popped 
into  my  head,  and  I  had  just  now  decided  that 
if  I  could  secure  options  on  this  property  I 
would  have  a  real  summer  resort  here — one 
that  would  make  Hollis  Creek  and  Meadow 
Brook  mere  farm  boarding-houses.  Do  you 
see  how  close  together  these  hills  draw  at  their 
feet?  The  hollow  is  at  least  a  thousand  feet 
across  at  the  widest  part,  but  down  there  at 
the  road,  where  the  stream  emerges  to  the 
fields,  they  close  in  with  natural  buttresses,  as 
it  were,  to  not  over  a  hundred  feet  in  width. 
Well,  right  across  there  we'll  build  a  dam,  and 
there  is  enough  water  here  to  make  a  beautiful 
lake  up  as  high  as  that  yellow  rock." 

Miss  Josephine  looked  up  at  the  yellow  rock 
and  clasped  her  hands  with  an  exclamation  of 
delight. 

"Glorious!"  she  said.  "I  never  would  have 
thought  of  that ;  and  how  beautiful  it  will  be ! 
245 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

Why,  if  the  lake  comes  up  that  high  it  will  go 
clear  back  around  that  turn  in  the  valley,  won't 
it?" 

"Easily,"  he  replied;  "although  that  might 
make  us  trouble,  for  I  don't  know  where  that 
turn  in  the  valley  leads.  I  have  never  explored 
that  region.  Suppose  we  go  up  and  look  it 
over." 

"Won't  that  be  fun?"  she  agreed,  and  they 
started  to  follow  the  stream. 

As  they  reached  the  rear  of  the  "pocket," 
where  they  could  see  around  the  curve,  they 
turned  and  looked  back  over  the  route  they  had 
just  traversed. 

"My  idea,"  Sam  explained,  having  waited 
until  they  reached  this  viewpoint  to  do  so,  "is  to 
build  the  dam  down  there  at  the  roadside,  and 
build  the  hotel  right  over  it  so  that  arriving 
guests  will,  after  an  elevator  has  brought  them 
up  to  the  height  of  the  main  floor,  find  the  blue 
of  the  lake  suddenly  bursting  upon  them  from 
the  main  piazza.,  which  will  face  the  valley. 
246 


SHE   CALLS    HIM    SAM 

All  of  the  inside  rooms  will,  of  course,  have 
hanging  balconies  looking  out  over  the  water." 

"Perfectly  ideal!"  she  agreed,  her  enthusi- 
asm growing. 

"I  think  I'd  better  investigate  the  curve  of 
the  valley,"  he  decided,  studying  the  path  care- 
fully. "It  seems  rather  rough  for  you,  and 
I'll  go  alone.  All  I  want  to  see  is  how  far  the 
water  height  will  carry  around  there,  and  if  it 
will  become  necessary  to  build  a  dam  at  the 
other  end." 

"Oh,  it  isn't  too  rough  for  me,"  she  declared 
immediately.  "I  am  an  excellent  climber," 
and  together  they  started  to  explore  the  now 
narrowing  valley,  following  the  stream  over 
steep  rocks  and  fallen  trees,  and  pushing 
through  tangled  undergrowth  and  among 
briers  and  bushes  and  around  slippery  banks 
until  they  came  to  another  tortuous  turn, 
where  a  second  spring,  welling  up  from  under 
a  flat,  overhanging  rock,  tumbled  down  to  aug- 
ment the  supply  for  the  future  lake;  and  here 
247 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

they  stopped  and  had  a  drink  of  the  cool,  de- 
licious water,  Sam  making  the  girl  a  cup  from 
a  huge  leaf  which  she  said  made  the  water 
taste  fuzzy,  and  then  showing  her  how  to  get 
down  on  her  hands  and  knees — spreading  his 
coat  on  the  ground  to  protect  her  gown — 
and  drink  au  naturel,  a  trick  at  which  she  was 
most  charming,  and  probably  knew  it. 

The  valley  here  had  grown  most  narrow,  but 
they  followed  the  now  very  small  stream 
around  one  sharp  curve  after  another  until  they 
found  its  source,  which  was  still  another  spring, 
and  here  there  was  no  more  valley;  but  a  cleft 
in  the  hill  to  the  right,  which  they  suddenly 
came  upon,  gave  them  an  exquisite  view  out 
over  the  beautiful  low-lying  country,  miles  in 
extent,  which  lay  between  this  and  the  next 
range  of  hills;  a  delightful  vista  dotted  with 
green  farms  and  white  farm-houses  and  smil- 
ing streams  and  waving  trees  and  grazing  cat- 
tle. They  stopped  in  awe  at  the  beauty  of  it 
and  looked  out  over  the  valley  in  silence;  and 
248 


SHE   CALLS    HIM    SAM 

unconsciously  the  girl  slipped  her  hand  within 
the  arm  of  the  man! 

"Just  imagine  a  sunset  out  over  there,"  he 
said.  "You  see  those  fleecy  clouds  that  are  out 
there  now.  If  clouds  like  those  are  still  there 
when  the  sun  goes  down,  they  will  be  a  fleet  of 
pearl-gray  vessels,  with  carmine  keels,  upon  a 
sea  of  gold." 

She  glanced  at  him  quickly,  but  she  did  not 
express  her  marvel  that  this  man  had  so  many 
sides.  Before  she  could  comment,  and  while 
she  was  still  framing  some  way  to  express  her 
appreciation  of  his  gentler  gifts,  he  returned 
briskly  to  practical  things. 

"Our  lake  will  scarcely  come  up  to  this 
point,"  he  judged.  "I  don't  think  that  at  any 
point  it  will  be  high  enough  to  cover  the 
springs.  We  don't  want  it  to  if  we  can  help  it, 
for  that  would  destroy  some  of  the  beauty  of 
it.  Have  you  noticed  that  our  lake  will  be 
much  like  a  kite  in  shape,  with  this  winding  ra- 
vine the  tail  of  it.  .We'll  have  to  take  in  a  lot 
249 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

of  acreage  to  cover  this  property,  but  it  will  be 
worth  it.  I'm  going  to  look  after  options  right 
away.  I'm  glad  now  I  had  already  decided  to 
stay  another  two  weeks." 

Of  course  she  was  still  angry  with  Sam,  she 

reminded  herself,  but  she  was  inexpressibly 

I 

glad,  somehow  or  other,  to  find  that  he  was  in- 
tending to  stay  two  weeks  longer,  and  was 

startled  as  she  recognized  that  fact. 

i' 

"It  will  take  a  lot  of  money,  won't  it,  to 
build  a  hotel  here?"  she  asked,  getting  away; 
from  certain  troublesome  thoughts  as  quickly 
as  she  could. 

".Yes,  it  will  take  a  great  deal,"  he  admitted, 
as  they  turned  to  scramble  down  the  ravine 
again.  "I  should  judge,  however,  that  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  would 
finance  it." 

"But  I  thought,  from  something  father  once 
said,  that  you  did  not  have  so  much  money  as 
that?" 

"Bless  you,  no !"  replied  Sam,  smiling.  "No 
250 


SHE   CALLS    HIM    SAM 

indeed !  I've  enough  to  cover  an  option  on  this 
property  and  that's  about  all,  now,  since  I'm 
tangled  up  so  deeply  with  my  Pulp  Company, 
but  I  figure  that  I  can  make  a  quick  turn  on 
this  property  to  help  me  out  on  the  other  thing. 
What  I'll  do,"  he  explained,  "is  to  get  this  op- 
tion first  of  all,  and  then  have  some  plans 
drawn,  including  a  nice  perspective  view  of  the 
hotel — a  water-color  sketch,  you  know,  show- 
ing the  building  fronting  the  lake — and  upon 
that  build  a  prospectus  to  get  up  the  stock 
company.  I'll  take  stock  for  my  control  of  the 
land  and  for  my  services  in  promotion.  Then 
I'll  sell  my  stock  and  get  out.  I  ought  to  make 
the  turn  in  two  or  three  months  and  come  out 
fifteen,  or  possibly  twenty  or  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars  to  the  good.  It  is  a  nice,  big 
scheme." 

"Oh,"  she  said  blankly,  "then  you  wouldn't 
actually  build  a  hotel  yourself  ?" 

"Hardly,"  he  returned.     "I'll  be  content  to 
make  the  profit  out  of  promoting  it  that  I'd 
251 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

make  in  the  first  four  or  five  years  of  running 
the  place." 

"I  see,"  she  said  musingly;  "and  you'd  get 
this  up  just  like  you  formed  your  Marsh  Pulp 
Company,  I  think  father  called  it,  and  of 
course  you'd  try  to  get — what  is  it  ? — oh,  yes ; 
control." 

He  smiled  at  her. 

"I'd  scarcely  look  for  that  in  this  deal,"  he 
explained.  "If  I  can  just  get  a  nice  slice  of 
promotion  stock  and  sell  it  I  shall  be  quite  well 
satisfied." 

She  bent  puzzled  brows  over  this  new  prob- 
lem. 

"I  don't  quite  understand  how  you  can  do 
it,"  she  confessed,  "but  of  course  you  know 
how.  You're  used  to  these  things.  Father  says 
you're  very  good  at  promoting." 

"That's  the  way  I've  made  all  my  money,  or 
rather  what  little  I  have,"  he  told  her,  modestly 
enough.  "I  expect  this  Pulp  Company,  how- 
ever, to  lift  me  out  of  that,  for  a  few  years  at 
252 


SHE   CALLS    HIM    SAM 

least ;  then  when  I  come  back  into  the  promot- 
ing field  I  can  go  after  things  on  a  big  scale. 
The  Pulp  Company  ought  to  make  me  a  lot  of 
money  if  I  can  just  keep  it  in  my  own  hands," 
and  involuntarily  he  sighed. 

She  looked  at  him  musingly  for  a  moment, 
and  was  about  to  say  something,  but  thought 
better  of  it  and  said  something  else. 

"The  tail  of  your  kite  will  be  almost  a  per- 
fect letter  'S',"  she  observed.  "How  beautiful 
it  will  be ;  the  big,  broad  lake  out  there  in  the 
main  valley,  and  then  the  nice,  little,  secluded, 
twisty  waterway  back  in  through  here;  a  reg- 
ular lover's  lane  of  a  waterway,  as  it  were.  I 
don't  suppose  these  springs  have  any  names. 
They  must  be  named,  and — why,  we  haven't 
even  named  the  lake !" 

"Yes,  we  have,"  he  quickly  returned.  "I'm 
going  to  call  it  Lake  Josephine." 

"You  haven't  asked  my  permission  for  that," 
she  objected  with  mock  severity. 

"There  are  plenty  of  Josephines  in  the 
253 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

world,"  he  calmly  observed.  "Nobody  has  a 
copyright  on  the  name,  you  know." 

She  smiled,  as  one  sure  of  her  ground. 

"Yes,  but  you  wouldn't  call  it  that,  if  I  were 
to  object  seriously." 

"No,  I  guess  I  wouldn't,"  he  gave  up;  "but 
you're  not  going  to  object  seriously,  are  you?" 

"I'll  think  it  over,"  she  said. 

They  were  now  making  their  way  along  a 
bank  that  was  too  difficult  of  travel  to  allow 
much  conversation,  though  it  did  allow  some 
delicious  helping,  but  when  they  came  out 
into  the  main  valley  where  they  could  again 
look  down  on  the  road,  they  paused  to  sur- 
vey the  course  over  which  they  had  just  come, 
and  to  appreciate  to  the  full  the  beauty  of  Sam's 
plan. 

"I  don't  believe  I  quite  like  your  idea  of  the 
hotel  built  down  there  at  the  roadside,"  she  ob- 
jected as  they  sat  on  a  huge  boulder  to  rest. 
"It  cuts  off  the  view  of  the  lake  from  passers- 
by,  and  I  should  think  it  would  be  the  best 
254 


SHE   CALLS    HIM    SAM 

advertisement  you  could  have  for  everybody 
who  drove  past  there  to  say:  'Oh,  what  a 
pretty  place!'  Now  I  should  think  that  right 
about  here  where  we  are  sitting  would  be  the 
proper  location  for  your  hotel.  Just  think  how 
the  lake  and  the  building  would  look  from  the 
road.  Right  here  would  be  a  broad  porch 
jutting  out  over  the  water,  giving  a  view  down 
that  first  bend  of  the  kite  tail,  and  back  of  the 
hotel  would  be  this  big  hill  and  all  the  trees, 
and  hills  and  trees  would  spread  out  each  side 
of  it,  sort  of  open  armed,  as  it  were,  welcoming 
people  in." 

"It  couldn't  be  seen,  though,"  objected  Sam. 
"The  dam  down  there  would  necessarily  be 
about  thirty  feet  high  at  the  center,  and  people 
driving  along  the  roadway  would  not  be  able  to 
see  the  water  at  all.  They  would  only  see  the 
blank  wall  of  the  dam.  Of  course  we  could 
soften  that  by  building  the  dam  back  a  few 
feet  from  the  roadway,  making  an  embankment 
and  covering  that  with  turf,  or  possibly  shrub- 
255 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

bery  or  flowers,  but  still  the  water  would  not  be 
visible,  nor  the  hotel !" 

"I  see,"  she  said  slowly. 

They  both  studied  that  objection  in  silence 
for  quite  a  little  while.  Then  she  suddenly  and 
excitedly  ejaculated : 

"Sam!" 

He  jumped,  and  he  thrilled  all  through.  She 
had  called  him  Sam  entirely  unconsciously, 
which  showed  that  she  had  been  thinking  of 
him  by  that  familiar  name.  With  the  exclam- 
ation had  come  sparkling  eyes  and  heightened 
color,  not  due  to  having  used  the  word,  but  due 
to  a  bright  thought,  and  he  almost  lost  his  sense 
of  logic  in  considering  the  delightful  combina- 
tion. It  occurred  to  him,  however,  that  it 
would  be  very  unwise  for  him  to  call  attention 
to  her  slip  of  the  tongue,  or  even  to  give  her 
time  to  think  and  recognize  it  herself. 

"Another  idea  ?"  he  asked. 

"Indeed  yes,"  she  asserted,  "and  this  time  I 
know  it's  feasible.  I  don't  know  much  about 
256 


SHE   CALLS    HIM    SAM 

measurements  in  feet  and  inches,  but  there  are 
three  feet  in  a  yard." 

"Yes." 

"Well,  doesn't  the  road  down  there,  from 
hill  to  hill,  dip  about  ten  yards  ?" 

"Yes." 

"Well  then,  that's  thirty  feet,  just  as  high  as 
you  say  the  dam  will  have  to  be.  Why  not 
raise  the  road  itself  thirty  feet,  letting  it  be 
level  and  just  as  high  as  your  dam?" 

Sam  rose  and  solemnly  shook  hands  with 
her. 

"You  must  come  into  the  firm,"  he  declared. 
"That  solves  the  entire  problem.  We'll  run  a 
culvert  underneath  there  to  the  fields.  The 
road  will  reinforce  the  dam  and  the  edge  of 
the  dam  will  be  entirely  concealed.  It  will  be 
merely  a  retaining  wall  with  a  nice  stone  cop- 
ing, which  will  be  repeated  on  the  field  side. 
There  will  be  no  objection  from  the  county 
commissioners,  because  we  shall  improve  the 
road  by  taking  two  steep  hills  out  of  it.  Your 

257 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

plan  is  much  better  than  mine.  I  can  see  myself, 
for  instance,  driving  along  that  road  on  my 
way  to  Hollis  Creek  from  Restview,  looking 
over  that  beautiful  little  lake  to  the  hotel  be- 
yond, and  saying  to  myself :  "Well,  next  sum- 
mer I  won't  stop  at  Hollis  Creek.  I'll  stop  at 
Lake  Jo." 

"I  thought  it  was  to  be  Lake  Josephine,"  she 
interposed. 

"I  thought  so  too,"  he  agreed,  "but  Lake  Jo 
just  slipped  out.  It  seems  so  much  better. 
Lake  Jo!  That  would  look  fine  on  a  pros- 
pectus." 

"You'd  print  the  cover  of  it  in  blue  and  gold, 

I  suppose,  wouldn't  you?" 
i 

"There  would  need  to  be  a  splash  of  brown- 
red  in  it,"  he  reminded  her,  considering  color 
schemes  for  a  moment.  "The  roof  of  the  hotel 
would,  of  course,  be  red  tile.  We'd  build  it 
fireproof.  There  is  plenty  of  gray  stone  around 
here,  and  we'd  build  it  of  native  rock." 

"And  then,"  she  went  on,  in  the  full  swing 
258 


SHE    CALLS    HIM    SAM 

of  their  idea,  "think  of  the  beautiful  walks  and 
climbs  you  could  have  among  these  hills;  and 
the  driveway!  Your  approach  to  the  hotel 
would  come  around  the  dam  and  up  that  hill, 
would  wind  up  through  those  trees  and  rocks, 
and  right  here  at  the  bend  of  the  ravine  it 
would  cross  the  thick  part  of  the  kite  tail  to  the 
hotel  on  a  quaint  rustic  bridge;  and  as  people 
arrived  and  departed  you'd  hear  the  clatter  of 
the  horses'  hoofs." 

"Great !"  he  exclaimed,  catching  her  enthusi- 
asm and  with  it  augmenting  his  own,  "and 
guests  leaving  would  first  wave  good-by  at  the 
porte-cochere  just  about  where  we  are  sitting. 
They'd  clatter  across  the  bridge,  with  their 
friends  on  the  porch  still  fluttering  handker- 
chiefs after  them;  they'd  disappear  into  the 
trees  over  yonder  and  around  through  that  cleft 
in  the  rocks.  And  see ;  on  the  other  side  of  the 
cleft  there  is  a  little  tableland  which  juts  out, 
and  the  road  would  wind  over  that,  where  car- 
riages would  once  more  be  seen  from  the  hotel 
259 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

porch.  Then  they'd  twist  in  through  the  trees 
again  down  the  winding  driveway,  and  once 
more,  for  the  very  last  glimpse,  come  into  view 
as  they  went  across  our  new  road  in  front  of 
the  lake ;  and  there  the  last  flutter  of  handker- 
chiefs would  be  seen.  You  know  it's  silly  to 
stand  and  wave  your  friends  out  of  sight  for  a 
long  distance  when  they're  always  in  view,  but 
if  the  view  is  interrupted  two  or  three  times  it 
relieves  the  monotony." 


260 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

SAM  TURNER  ACQUIRES  A  BUSINESS  PARTNER 

THEY  followed  the  stream  down  to  the 
road,  at  every  step  gaging  with  the  eye 
the  height  of  the  lake  and  judging  the  altered 
scenic  view  from  the  level  of  the  water.  There 
would  be  room  for  dozens  and  dozens  of  boats 
upon  that  surface  without  interference.  Sam 
calculated  that  from  the  upper  spring  there 
would  be  headway  enough  to  run  a  small  foun- 
tain in  the  center,  surrounded  by  a  pond-lily 
bed  which  would  be  kept  in  place  by  a  stone 
curbing.  In  the  hill  to  the  right  there  was  a 
deep  indenture.  Back  in  there  would  go  the 
bathing  pavilions.  They  even  went  up  to  look 
at  it,  and  were  delighted  to  find  a  natural,  shal- 
low bowl.  By  cementing  the  floor  of  that  bowl 
they  could  have  a  splendid  swimming-pool  for 
timid  bathers,  where  they  could  not  go  beyond 
261 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

their  depth ;  and  it  was  entirely  surrounded  by 
a  thick  screen  of  shrubbery.  Oh,  it  was  de- 
lightful; it  was  perfect!  At  the  road  they 
looked  back  up  over  the  valley  again.  It  was 
no  longer  a  valley.  It  was  a  lake.  They  could 
see  the  water  there.  Sam  drew  from  his  pocket 
a  pencil  and  an  envelope. 

"The  hotel  will  have  to  be  long  and  tall,"  he 
observed,  "for  there  will  not  be  much  room 
on  that  ledge,  from  front  to  back.  The  build- 
ing will  stretch  out  quite  a  ways.  Three  or 
four  hundred  feet  long  it  will  be,  and  about 
five  stories  in  height,"  and  taking  a  letter  from 
the  envelope,  he  sat  down  upon  a  fallen  log  and 
began  rapidly  to  sketch. 

He  drew  the  hotel  with  wide-spreading  Span- 
ish roofs  and  balconies,  and  a  wide  porch  with 
rippling  water  in  front  of  it,  and  rowboats 
and  people  in  them;  and  behind  the  hotel  rose 
the  broken  sky-line  of  the  hills  and  the  trees, 
with  an  indication  of  fleecy  clouds  above.  It 
was  just  a  light  sketch,  a  sort  of  shorthand  pic- 
262 


A   BUSINESS    PARTNER 

ture,  as  it  were,  and  yet  it  seemed  full  of  sun- 
light and  of  atmosphere. 

"I  hadn't  any  idea  you  could  draw  like  that," 
she  exclaimed  in  admiration. 

"I  do  a  little  of  everything,  I  think,  but  noth- 
ing perfectly,"  he  admitted  with  some  regret. 

"It  seems  to  me  you  do  everything  excellent- 
ly," she  objected  quite  seriously ;  and  she  was, 
in  fact,  deeply  impressed. 

He  walked  over  to  the  stream,  a  trifle 
confused,  but  not  displeased,  by  any  means,  by 
the  earnestness  of  her  compliment. 

"I  must  have  the  water  analyzed  to  see  if  it 
has  any  medicinal  virtue,"  he  said.  "The  spring 
out  of  which  we  drank  has  a  sweetish-like 
taste,  but  the  water  here — "  and  he  caught  up 
some  of  it  in  his  hand  and  tasted  it,  "seems  to 
be  slightly  salt." 

He  had  left  her  sitting  on  the  log  with  the 

sketch  in  her  lap.    Now  the  sketch  fluttered  to 

the  ground  and  the  letter  turned  over,  right 

side  up.    It  was  a  letter  which  Sam  had  written 

263 


THE   EARLY    BIRD 

to  his  brother  Jack  and  had  not  mailed  because 
he  had  suddenly  decided  to  come  down  to  the 
scene  of  action.  As  she  stooped  over  to  pick  it 
up  her  eyes  caught  the  sentence :  "I  love  her, 
Jack,  more  than  I  can  tell  you,  more  than  I  can 
tell  anybody,  more  than  I  can  tell  myself.  It's 
the  most  important,  the  most  stupendous 
thing — "  She  hastily  turned  that  letter  over 
and  was  very  careful  to  have  it  lying  upon  her 
lap,  back  upward,  exactly  as  he  had  left  it 
there,  and  when  he  came  back  she  was  very, 
very  careful  indeed  to  hand  it  nonchalantly 
over  to  him,  with  the  sketch  uppermost. 

"Of  course,"  he  said,  looking  around  him 
comprehensively,  "this  is  only  a  day-dream,  so 
far.  It  may  be  impossible  to  realize  it." 

"Why?"  she  asked,  instantly  concerned. 
"This  project  must  be  carried  through!  It  is 
already  as  good  as  completed.  It  just  must  be 
done.  I  never  before  had  a  hand,  even  in  a 
remote  way,  in  planning  a  big  thing,  and  I 
264 


A    BUSINESS    PARTNER 

couldn't  bear  not  to  see  this  done.    What  is  to 
prevent  it  ?" 

"I  may  not  be  able  to  get  the  land,"  returned 
Sam  soberly.  "It  is  probably  owned  by  half  a 
dozen  people,  and  one  or  more  of  them  is  cer- 
tain to  want  exorbitant  prices  for  it." 

"It  certainly  can't  be  very  valuable,"  she  pro- 
tested. "It  isn't  fit  for  anything,  is  it  ?" 

"For  nothing  but  the  building  of  Lake  Jo," 
he  agreed.  "Right  now  it  is  worthless,  but  the 
minute  anybody  found  out  I  wanted  it  it  would 
become  extremely  valuable.  The  only  way  to 
do  would  be  to  see  everybody  at  once  and  close 
the  options  before  they  could  get  to  talking  it 
over  among  themselves." 

"What  time  is  it?"  she  demanded. 

He  looked  at  his  watch. 

"Ten-thirty,"  he  said. 

"Then  let's  go  and  see  all  these  people  right 
away,"  she  urged,  jumping  to  her  feet. 

He  smiled  at  her  enthusiasm,  but  he  was 
none  loath  to  accept  her  suggestion. 
265 


THE    EARLY   BIRD 

"All  right,"  he  agreed.  "I  wish  they  had 
telephones  here  in  the  woods.  We'll  simply 
have  to  walk  over  to  Meadow  Brook  and  get  an 
auto." 

"Come  on,"  she  said  energetically,  and  they 
started  out  on  the  road.  They  had  not  gone 
far,  however,  when  young  Tilloughby,  with 
Miss  Westlake,  overtook  them  in  a  trap.  He 
reined  up,  and  Miss  Westlake  greeted  the  pe- 
destrians with  frigid  courtesy.  Jack  Turner 
had  accidentally  dropped  her  a  hint.  Now  that 
she  had  begun  to  appreciate  Mr.  Tilloughby — 
Bob — at  his  true  value,  she  wondered  what  she 
had  ever  seen  in  Sam  Turner — and  she  never 
had  liked  Josephine  Stevens ! 

"Gug-gug-gug-glorious  day,  isn't  it?"  ob- 
served Tilloughby,  his  face  glowing  with  joy. 

"Fine,"  agreed  Sam  with  enthusiasm. 
"There  never  was  a  more  glorious  day  in  all 
the  world.  You've  just  come  along  in  time  to 
save  our  lives,  Tilloughby.  Which  way  are 
you  bound?" 

266 


A   BUSINESS    PARTNER 

"Wuw-wuw-wuw-we  had  intended  to  go 
around  Bald  Hill." 

"Well,  postpone  that  for  a  few  minutes, 
won't  you,  Tilloughby,  like  a  good  fellow  ?  Trot 
back  to  Meadow  Brook  and  send  an  auto  out 
here  for  us.  Get  Henry,  by  all  means,  to  drive 
it" 

"Wuw-wuw-wuw-with  pleasure,"  replied 
Tilloughby,  wondering  at  this  strange  whim, 
but  restraining  his  curiosity  like  a  thorough- 
bred. "Huh-huh-huh-Henry  shall  be  back  here 
for  you  in  a  jiffy,"  and  he  drove  off  in  a  cloud 
of  dust. 

Miss  Stevens  surveyed  the  retiring  trap  in 
satisfaction. 

"Good,"  she  exclaimed.  "I  already  feel  as 
though  we  were  doing  something  to  save  Lake 
Jo." 

They  walked  back  quite  contentedly  to  the 

valley  and  surveyed  it  anew,  there  resting  now 

on  both  of  them  a  sense  of  almost  prideful 

possession.     They  discovered  a  high  point  on 

267 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

which  a  rustic  observatory  could  be  built ;  they 
planned  paths  and  trails ;  they  found  where  the 
water-line  came  just  under  an  overhanging  rock 
which  would  make  a  cave  large  enough  for 
three  or  four  boats  to  scurry  under  out  of  the 
rain.  They  found  delightful  surprises  all  along 
the  bank  of  the  future  lake,  and  Miss  Stevens 
declared  that  when  the  dam  was  built  and  the 
lake  began  to  fill,  she  never  intended  to  leave 
It  except  for  meals,  until  it  was  up  to  the  level 
at  which  they  would  permit  the  overflow  to  be 
opened. 

Henry,  returning  with  the  automobile,  found 
them  far  up  in  the  valley  discussing  a  floating 
band  pavilion,  but  they  came  down  quickly 
enough  when  they  saw  him,  and  scrambled 
into  the  tonneau  with  the  haste  of  small  chil- 
dren. Henry  watched  them  take  their  places 
with  smiling  affection.  He  had  not  only  had 
good  tips  but  pleasant  words  from  Sam,  and 
Miss  Stevens  was  her  own  incentive  to  good 
wishes  and  good  will. 

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A    BUSINESS    PARTNER 

"Henry,"  said  Sam,  "we  want  to  drive 
around  to  see  the  people  who  own  this  land." 

"Oh,  shucks,"  said  Henry,  disappointed.  "I 
can't  drive  you  there.  The  man  that  owns  all 
this  land  lives  in  New  York." 

"In  New  York!"  repeated  Sam  in  dismay. 
"What  would  anybody  in  New  York  want  with 
this?" 

"The  fellow  that  bought  it  got  it  about  ten 
years  ago,"  Henry  informed  them.  "He  was 
going  to  build  a  big  country  house,  back  up 
there  in  the  hills,  I  understand,  and  raise  deer 
to  shoot  at,  and  things  like  that ;  got  an  archi- 
tect to  make  him  plans  for  house  and  stables 
and  all  costing  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars; but  before  he  could  break  ground  on  it 
him  and  his  wife  had  a  spat  and  got  a  divorce. 
He  tried  to  sell  the  land  back  again  to  the  peo- 
ple he  bought  it  from,  but  they  wouldn't  take 
it  at  any  price.  They  were  glad  to  be  shut  of 
it  and  none  of  his  rich  friends  wanted  to  buy  it 
after  that,  because,  they  said,  there  were  so 
269 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

many  of  those  cheap  summer  resorts  around 
here." 

"I  see,"  said  Sam  musingly.  "You  don't 
happen  to  know  the  man's  name,  do  you?" 

"Dickson,  I  think  it  was.  Henry  Dickson. 
I  remember  his  first  name  because  it  was  the 
same  as  mine." 

"Great !"  exclaimed  Sam,  overjoyed.  "Why, 
I  know  Henry  Dickson  like  a  book.  I've  engi- 
neered several  deals  for  him.  He's  a  mighty 
good  friend  of  mine  too.  That  simplifies  mat- 
ters. Drive  us  right  over  to  Hollis  Creek." 

"To  Hollis  Creek !"  she  objected.  "I  should 
think  you'd  drive  to  Meadow  Brook  instead 
and  dress  for  the  trip.  Aren't  you  going  to 
catch  that  afternoon  train  and  go  right  up 
there?" 

"By  no  means.  This  is  Saturday,  and  by 
the  time  I'd  get  to  New  York  he  couldn't  be 
found  anywhere ;  and  anyhow,  I  wouldn't  have 
time  to  deliver  you  at  Hollis  Creek  and  make 
this  next  train." 

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A    BUSINESS    PARTNER 

"Don't  mind  about  me,"  she  urged.  "I  could 
go  to  the  train  with  you  and  Henry  could  take 
me  back  to  Hollis  Creek." 

"That's  fine  of  you,"  returned  Sam  grate- 
fully ;  "but  it  isn't  the  program  at  all.  I  happen 
to  know  that  Dickson  stays  in  his  office  until 
one  o'clock  on  Saturdays.  I'll  get  him  by  long 
distance." 

They  were  quite  silent  in  calculation  on  the 
way  to  Hollis  Creek,  and  Miss  Josephine  found 
herself  pushing  forward  to  help  make  the  ma- 
chine go  faster.  Breathlessly  she  followed  Sam 
into  the  house,  and  he  obligingly  left  the  door 
of  the  telephone  booth  ajar,  so  that  she  could 
hear  his  conversation  with  Dickson. 

"Hello,  Dickson,"  said  Sam,  when  he  got  his 
connection.  "This  is  Sam  Turner.  .  .  .  Oh 
yes,  fine.  Never  better  in  my  life.  .  .  .  Up 
here  in  Hamster  County,  taking  a  little  vaca- 
tion. Say,  Dickson,  I  understand  you  own  a 
thousand  acres  down  here.  Do  you  want  to 
sell  it?  ...  How  much?"  As  he  received 
271 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

the  answer  to  that  question  he  turned  to  Miss 
Josephine  and  winked,  while  an  expression  of 
profound  joy,  albeit  materialized  into  a  grin, 
overspread  his  features.  "I  won't  dicker  with 
you  on  that  price,"  he  said  into  the  telephone. 
"But  will  you  take  my  note  for  it  at  six  per 
cent.  ?" 

He  laughed  aloud  at  the  next  reply. 

"No,  I  don't  want  it  to  run  that  long.  The 
interest  in  a  hundred  years  would  amount  to 
too  much;  but  I'll  make  it  five  years.  .  .  . 
All  right,  Dickson,  instruct  your  lawyer  chap 
to  make  out  the  papers  and  I'll  be  up  Monday 
to  close  with  you." 

He  hung  up  the  receiver  and  turned  to  meet 
her  glistening  eyes  fixed  upon  him  in  ecstasy. 

"It's  better  than  all  right,"  he  assured  her. 

He  was  more  enthusiastic  about  this  than  he 
had  ever  been  about  any  business  deal  in  his 
life,  that  is,  more  openly  enthusiastic,  for  Miss 
Josephine's  enthusiasm  was  contagion  itself. 
He  took  her  arm  with  a  swing,  and  they  hur- 
272 


A    BUSINESS    PARTNER 

ried  into  the  writing- room,  which  was  deserted 
for  the  time  being  on  account  of  the  mail  hav- 
ing just  come  in.  Sam  placed  a  chair  for  her 
and  they  sat  down  at  the  table. 

"I  want  to  figure  a  minute,"  said  he.  "Now 
that  I  have  actual  possession  of  the  property, 
in  place  of  a  mere  option,  I  can  go  at  the  thing 
differently.  First  of  all,  when  I  go  up  Mon- 
day I'll  see  my  engineer,  and  on  Tuesday  morn- 
ing I'll  bring  him  down  here  with  me.  Then 
I  shall  secure  permission  from  the  county  to 
alter  that  road  and  we'll  build  the  dam.  That 
will  cost  very  little  in  comparison  to  the  whole 
improvement.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  I'll  get 
out  my  stock  prospectus,  and  I'll  drive  pros- 
pective investors  down  here  to  look  at  Lake  Jo. 
I'll  be  almost  in  position  to  dictate  terms." 

"Isn't  that  fine !"  she  exclaimed.  "And  then 
I  suppose  you  can  secure — control,"  she  ven- 
tured anxiously. 

"Yes,  I  think  I  can  if  I  want  it,"  he  assured 
her. 

273 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

"I'm  so  glad,"  she  said  gravely.  "I'm  so 
very  glad." 

"Really,  though,  I  have  a  big  notion  to  see  if 
I  can't  finance  the  entire  project  myself.  I'm 
quite  sure  I  can  get  Dickson  to  give  me  a  clear 
deed  to  that  land  merely  on  my  unsupported 
note.  If  I  can  do  that  I  can  erect  all  the 
buildings  on  progressive  mortgages.  Roadways 
and  engineering  work  of  course  I'll  have  to  pay 
for,  and  then  I  can  finance  a  subsidiary  operat- 
ing company  to  rent  the  plant  from  the  original 
company,  and  can  retain  stock  in  both  of  them. 
I'll  figure  that  out  both  ways." 

It  was  all  Greek  to  her,  this  talk,  but  she  knit- 
ted her  brows  in  an  earnest  effort  to  under- 
stand, and  crowded  close  to  him  to  look  over 
the  figures  he  was  putting  down.  The  touch  of 
her  arm  against  his  own  threw  out  his  calcula- 
tions entirely.  He  could  not  add  a  row  of 
figures  to  save  his  life. 

"I'll  go  over  the  financial  end  of  this  later 
on,"  he  said,  but  he  did  not  put  away  the  paper. 
274 


A   BUSINESS    PARTNER 

He  kept  it  there  for  them  both  to  look  at,  touch- 
ing arms. 

"All  right,"  she  agreed,  "but  you  must  let  me 
see  you  do  it.  Of  course  I  can't  understand, 
but  I  do  want  to  feel  as  if  I  were  helping  when 
it  is  done." 

"I  won't  take  a  step  in  it  without  consulting 
you  or  having  you  along,"  he  promised. 

At  that  moment  the  bugle  sounded  the  first 
call  for  luncheon. 

"You'll  stay  for  luncheon,"  she  invited. 

"Certainly,"  he  assured  her.  "You  couldn't 
drive  me  away." 

"Very  well,  right  after  luncheon  let's  go  out 
and  look  at  the  place  again.  It  will  look  differ- 
ent now  that  it  is — "  She  caught  herself.  She 
had  almost  said  "now  that  it  is  ours."  "Now 
that  it  is  secured,"  she  finished. 

After  luncheon  they  drove  back  to  the  site  of 

Lake  Jo,  and  spent  a  delirious  while  planning 

the  things  which  were  to  be  done  to  make  that 

spot  an  earthly  Paradise.    Never  was  a  couple 

275 


THE   EARLY   BIRD 

so  prolific  of  ideas  as  they  were  that  afternoon. 
With  'Ennery  waiting  down  in  the  road  they 
tramped  all  over  the  hills  again,  standing  first 
on  one  spot  and  then  another  to  survey  the 
alluring  prospect,  and  to  plan  wonderful  new 
and  attractive  features  of  which  no  previous 
summer  resort  builder  had  ever  even  dared  to 
dream. 

During  the  afternoon  not  one  word  passed 
between  them  which  might  be  construed  to  be 
of  an  intimately  personal  nature,  but  as  they 
drove  to  Hollis  Creek,  tired  but  happy,  Sam 
somehow  or  other  felt  that  he  had  made  quite 
a  bit  of  progress,  and  was  correspondingly 
elated.  Leaving  Miss  Stevens  on  the  porch 
he  hurried  home  to  dress  for  dinner,  for  it  was 
growing  late,  but  immediately  after  dinner  he 
drove  over  again.  When  he  arrived  Miss  Jo- 
sephine was  in  the  seldom  used  parlor  with  her 
father. 

"I  haven't  seen  you  since  breakfast,"  Mr. 
Stevens  had  said,  pinching  her  cheek.    "Hollis 
276 


A   BUSINESS    PARTNER 

and  Billy  Westlake  have  been  looking  for  you 
everywhere." 

"Oh,  they,"  she  returned  with  kindly  con- 
tempt. "I'm  glad  I  didn't  see  them.  They're 
nice  boys  enough,  but  father,  I  don't  believe 
that  either  one  of  them  will  ever  become  clever 
business  men !" 

"No?"  he  replied,  highly  amused.  "Well, 
I  don't  think  they  will  either.  Business  is  a 
shade  too  big  a  game  for  them.  But  where 
have  you  been?" 

"Out  on  business  with  S-s-s —  with  Mr. 
Turner,"  she  replied  demurely.  "I  came  in  late 
for  lunch,  and  you  had  already  finished  and 
gone.  Then  we  went  right  back  out  again. 
Father,  we  have  found  the  dearest,  the  most 
delightful,  the  most  charming  business  oppor- 
tunity you  ever  saw.  You  must  go  out  with  us 
to-morrow  and  look  at  it.  Sam's  going  to  build 
a  lake  and  call  it  Lake  Jo.  You  know  where 
that  little  stream  is  between  here  and  Meadow 
Brook?  Well,  that's  the  place.  We  found  out 
277 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

this  morning  what  a  delightful  spot  it  would 
make  for  a  lake  and  a  big  summer  resort  hotel, 
and  at  noon  Sam  bought  the  property,  and  we 
have  been  planning  it  all  afternoon.  He's 
bought  it  outright  and  he's  going  to  capitalize 
it  for  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars.  How  much 
stock  are  you  going  to  take  in  it  ?" 

"How  much  what?" 

"How  many  shares  of  stock  are  you  going 
to  take  in  it  ?  You  must  speak  up  quickly,  be- 
cause it's  going  to  be  a  favor  to  you  for  us  to 
let  you  in." 

".Well,  I  don't  know,"  said  Mr.  Stevens,  re- 
sisting a  sudden  desire  to  guffaw.  "I'd  have  to 
look  it  over  first  before  I  decide  to  invest. 
Sounds  like  a  sort  of  wild-eyed  scheme  to  me. 
Besides  that,  I  already  have  a  good  big  block  of 
stock  in  one  of  Sam  Turner's  enterprises." 

"Oh,  yes,"  she  said,  puckering  her  brows. 
"Are  you  going  to  vote  your  pulp  stock  with 
his?" 

278 


A   BUSINESS    PARTNER 

Mr.  Stevens'  eyes  twinkled,  but  his  tone  was 
conservative  gravity  itself. 

"Well,  since  it's  a  purely  business  deal  it 
would  not  be  a  very  wise  thing  to  do;  and 
though  Sam  Turner  is  a  mighty  fine  boy,  I 
don't  think  I  shall." 

"But  you  will!"  she  vigorously  protested. 
"Why,  father,  you  wouldn't  for  a  minute  vote 
against  your  own  son-in-law !" 

"No,  I  wouldn't !"  declared  Mr.  Stevens  em- 
phatically, and  suddenly  drew  her  to  him  and 
kissed  her;  and  she  clung  about  his  neck  half 
laughing  and  half  crying. 

Do  you  suppose  there  is  anything  in  tel- 
epathy? It  would  seem  so,  for  it  was  at  this 
moment  that  Sam  stepped  up  on  the  porch. 
They  in  the  parlor  heard  his  voice,  and  Mr. 
Stevens  immediately  slipped  out  the  back  way 
in  order  not  to  be  de  trap  a  second  time.  Now 
Sam  could  not  possibly  have  known  what  had 
been  said  in  the  parlor,  and  yet  when  he  found 
279 


THE    EARLY    BIRD 

his  way  in  there,  he  and  Miss  Josephine,  with- 
out any  palaver  about  it,  without  exchanging  a 
solitary  word,  or  scarcely  even  a  look,  just  nat- 
urally fell  into  each  other's  arms.  Neither  one 
of  them  made  the  first  move.  It  just  somehow 
happened,  and  they  stood  there  and  held  and 
held  and  held  that  embrace ;  and  whatever  fool- 
ishness they  said  and  did  in  the  next  hour  is 
none  of  your  business  nor  of  mine ;  but  later  in 
the  evening,  when  they  were  sitting  quietly  in 
the  darkest  corner  of  the  porch,  and  Sam  had 
his  hand  on  the  arm  of  her  chair  with  her  el- 
bows resting  upon  his  fingers — it  didn't  matter, 
you  know,  where  he  touched  her,  just  so  he  did 
— she  turned  to  him  with  thoughtful  earnest- 
ness in  her  voice. 

"Sam,"  she  said,  and  this  time  she  used  his 
first  name  quite  consciously  and  was  glad  it  was 
dark  so  that  he  could  not  see  her  trace  of  shy- 
ness, "I  wish  you  would  explain  to  me  just 
what  you  mean  by  control  in  a  stock  company." 
280 


A   BUSINESS    PARTNER 

Sam  Turner  moved  his  fingers  from  under 
her  elbow  and  caught  her  hand,  which  he  firmly 
clasped  before  he  began. 

"Well,  Jo,  it's  just  this  way,"  he  said,  and 
then,  quite  comfortably,  he  explained  to  her  all 
about  it. 


THE  END 


A     000114112 


